This document records a conversation between Edward Oakden, private secretary to British Prime Minister John Major for Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Northern Ireland, and John Hume, the leader of the SDLP [Social and Democratic Labour Party] on 18 July 1996. Hume told Oakden that he had spoken to Gerry Adams, who said that Hume's proposal for a statement by the British Government in exchange for a ceasefire from PIRA [Provisional Irish Republican Army] was still on the table. Adams had expressed that he wanted the British Government to confirm that the talks would seriously engage with the substantive issues and that decommissioning would be addressed as part of the talks, instead of as a pre-condition of it. He also requested a statement from the Government that noted that the Government would make efforts to 'improve understanding', which Hume took to mean discussion on prisoners. Adams had also promised that if the British Government restarted contact with Sinn Féin, that he would attend their meetings himself.
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