Northern Ireland politicians consult prison inmates

Protestant inmates at the Maze prison near Belfast have refused to give their backing to the Northern Ireland peace process.

A delegation of Protestant politicians, which went to the prison, said they had failed to persuade the prisoners -- all members of one of the main Protestant paramilitary groups,the Ulster Defence Association -- to drop their objections to the talks.

The prisoners say the British government has made too many concessions to the IRA's political wing, Sinn Fein.

The BBC correspondent in Belfast says it's not clear whether the UDA's political representatives will now be at the talks when they resume on Monday.

The British minister for Northern Ireland, Mo Mowlam, has meanwhile been meeting other political leaders in the province to try to keep the process on course.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service