Presidents Biden and Bill Clinton will be among the leaders of Ireland, Britain and the United States traveling to Belfast to celebrate Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, April 10, 1998. The landmark peace accord that ended 30 years of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland became known as the “Trouble”.
The deal, in which American mediators play a central role, is worth celebrating. It won the Nobel Peace Prize for two negotiators from Northern Ireland, and it serves as a model for resolving seemingly intractable sectarian conflicts. Political violence has been relatively rare on the island of Ireland since it was signed: The border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, once lined with watchtowers and barrics, is almost undetectable, and central Belfast, a battleground during the Troubles, could now be the trendy centerpiece of any European capital. Public opinion in both North and South regions overwhelmingly supported the agreement.
But old sectarian differences fester. Despite surveys consistently showing support for integration, Protestants and Catholics still live far apart. Even when they no longer fight, their schools and neighborhoods are still mostly separate.
Matters have become more complicated since Britain opted out of the European Union in 2016. leaving Northern Ireland in limbo. The Council and Executive consist of a power-sharing government, one of the main products of the Good Friday Agreement. inactive for months because of the main coalition party’s dissatisfaction with the final Brexit trade deals.
In fact association and administration — Northern Ireland’s authorized legislature and government executive committee, which requires active participation of both trade unionists and nationalists — was unable to operate for most of their existence, making government affairs a civilian affair. servant for a long time.
At the heart of the problem, according to political scientists, is that the Good Friday Agreement focuses primarily on ending the bloodshed, and less on efforts to integrate communities at war – largely Protestants. union members those who wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the United Kingdom and Irish nationalists, mostly Catholics, who wanted an alliance with the republic to the south.
The Good Friday Agreement was not and cannot be blamed for the Troubles, in which, as in so many such conflicts, the terrorist of one side is the hero of the other. The best it can do is call for “sensitivity” in dealing with profound differences in culture and symbolismsuch as flags, language, clique memories or dealing with the past.
Attitudes are changing, especially among young people, but slowly. Several opinion polls in Northern Ireland have tracked a steady rise in support for Irish unity, especially since Brexit, and many identify as not nationalist or unionist rather than identifying with one of those groups. However, identification with their goals remains strong among those who still identify as nationalists or unionists.
Brexit – Britain’s breakup with the EU – has fanned the old flames by threatening fusionists’ geographical links with Britain and nationalists’ insistence on a border. open border between North and South. Brexit could potentially mean an end to the free movement of goods between the UK, of which Northern Ireland is a part, and Ireland, a proud member of the European Union. Re-establish a tough land border that has been ruled out by all parties, lead to an arrangement to introduce checks on British goods entering Northern Irish ports.
Unionists vehemently oppose that deal, and in February the new UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed with the EU to soften the terms by creating a “”green alley,” without any control, in respect of British goods exclusively for Northern Ireland. The Windsor Framework, as it is known, easily passed in the British Parliament. But Northern Ireland’s main Protestant party, the conservative Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), refused to accept the deal and returned to power-sharing Parliament.
That’s where things stand today.
It is not clear that there are any arrangements that the DUP – opposed to the original Good Friday Agreement, pro-Brexit and continues to staunchly fight for all old union causes – would agree. Basically, the only option is to control trade on land or at sea, and there’s not much more London or Brussels can do.
More moderate Northern Irishmen hope that Mr Biden’s visit to Belfast can convince Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of the DUP, to make concessions. Mr Biden is expected to be accompanied by Joe Kennedy III, his economic envoy for Northern Ireland, whose presence signaled the promise of US investment in the economically troubled North. .
Despite the current political deadlock, the president has the right to join all parties in celebrating that remarkable achievement 25 years ago and the proud role the United States played in it. It is an example of what diplomacy and careful, principled negotiation can achieve.
The deal ended a bitter and brutal sectarian war that seemed to have grown tenuous after three decades and left some 3,600 people dead, most of them civilians. And the key elements of the deal – the principle of consent, power sharing and democratic institutions – have stood the test of time and remain a model for hire by other countries due to internal discord. . Northern Irish people know this: A recent poll found that 69% of them believe the Good Friday Agreement is the best basis for governing Northern Ireland, even if 55% think it can be. reform in some way.
Yes, much work remains to be done to fulfill the full promise of the Good Friday Agreement and remove all walls, both figurative and physical, between the people of Northern Ireland. But that’s not a sign of failure; it is a lesson that a peace agreement is never final and needs to be renewed regularly to survive.
