BELFAST - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said Monday he was "disappointed" by the decision of US Senator Ted Kennedy to cancel their meeting planned this week due to public furor over IRA crime.
Kennedy, the powerful Democratic politician from Massachusetts, shelved his annual meeting with Adams over the Irish Republican Army's "ongoing criminal activities", his spokeswoman said.
Adams -- now in Washington on his annual weeklong Saint Patrick's Day -- claimed that the senator had been "badly advised" in his decision to freeze him out.
"I am disappointed. Sinn Fein had worked closely with Senator Kennedy. On this occasion, he has been badly advised," he said in a statement.
The two had met during Adams' Saint Patrick's Day visit to the United States each year since the Good Friday peace agreement was signed between Northern Ireland's rival Protestant and Catholic parties in 1998.
The cancellation comes as Sinn Fein faces crushing pressure over its military wing the IRA, after a series of high-profile crimes including a murder of a Catholic father-of-two blamed on the paramilitary's members.
The slaying of Robert McCartney in Belfast on January 30 has mobilized many in the Catholic community in Northern Ireland against the IRA and stirred international anger.
Sinn Fein, in a bid to defuse the anger, suspended seven of its members and urged witnesses to come forward over the crime.
But even traditional backers in Washington like Kennedy, an Irish-American, have made moves to shut out the party, with some calling for total disbandment of the IRA.
In his statement, Adams said Sinn Fein would "continue to tackle the issues which need to be resolved if the peace process is to succeed.
"We are confident that we will work with Senator Kennedy again in the future," he said.
03/14/2005 11:07 GMT