Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell has urged the people of Northern Ireland not to let the benefits of peace “slip away."
Mr. Mitchell was speaking as part of a three-day conference at Queen’s University in Belfast on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
As a senator and U.S. envoy, Mitchell was the chair of the talks in 1998 which effectively brought an end to the violence that had ravaged Northern Ireland, this by the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
The DUP did not take part in those talks and campaigned against the Good Friday Agreement in the subsequent referendum which was backed by 71 percent of the people in Northern Ireland. In February last year, the DUP collapsed one of the main elements of the agreement – the power-sharing executive at Stormont.
President Bill Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, are also taking part in the conference along with local political leaders past and present.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are also due to speak on Wednesday. Also arriving from the US. is the former chair and now ranking member of the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, Richard Neal, and the recently appointed U.S. economic envoy for Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will also be speaking.
Mr. Mitchell said: “It is not a sign of weakness to resolve your differences by democratic and peaceful means.
“To the contrary, it is a sign of strength and of wisdom, and it clearly reflects the will of the overwhelming majority of the people in Northern Ireland.”
He praised the efforts of former SDLP leader John Hume and former Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, and called on today’s political leaders to act with the “courage and wisdom” of politicians from 25 years ago.
“Don’t let it slip away,” he urged, to a standing ovation.
Addressing those assembled, Mrs. Clinton said: “On the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, I think we can all agree to celebrate a significant milestone with both a sense of accomplishment, but also with hope and determination that the next 25 years will bring more fully the peace, prosperity and safety the agreement promised.
“There can be no doubt that people in Northern Ireland enjoy safety and security, much more than those who had lived through the previous decades, that they could only have dreamed of.
“The longevity of the Good Friday Agreement remains a true triumph of diplomacy and a testament to democracy’s power to transcend divisions and deliver peace.”
Hillary and Bill Clinton have been regular visitors to Northern Ireland since first arriving in 1995 when they visited Belfast and Derry, a year after the IRA ceasefire.
