Northern Ireland on Monday marked the 25th anniversary of the historic 1998 peace accords, but the fragility of the province’s ceasefire was underscored when masked youths pelted petrol bombs at police vehicles amid sectarian disorder.
No major public events are scheduled for the day itself, but British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden will arrive on Tuesday to launch several days of high-profile commemorations.
The area has taken on a new shape since pro-British trade union leaders and pro-Irish nationalist leaders negotiated an unlikely peace deal on April 10, 1998 – Good Friday of Easter – after marathon negotiations.
But the county has lately been mired in political dysfunction and security concerns that threaten to overshadow that milestone.
To underscore the threat, projectiles, including petrol bombs, were pelted at police vehicles on Monday during an illegal dissident Republican march in Londonderry on the eve of Biden’s visit.
“Our officers have been attacked… with petrol bombs and other objects thrown at their vehicle while attending an unannounced Easter parade,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.
“No injuries have been reported at this time. We would call for calm,” police added.
Officials last week warned of “strong” information that dissidents were planning attacks on officers in the city on Monday.
– ‘Potential’ –
The Good Friday Agreement, brokered by Washington and ratified by governments in London and Dublin, largely ended three decades of devastating sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland and periodic terrorist attacks in mainland Britain.
Known as “The Troubles”, the conflict killed more than 3,500 people. It pitted the province’s Protestant Unionists, who support British rule, against Catholic Republicans who demanded equal rights and reunification with the Republic of Ireland.
A quarter of a century later, Northern Ireland is struggling to consolidate the gains of its hard-earned peace. Post-Brexit trade deals have led to political instability and violence by dissident Republicans is on the rise.
“While it is time to reflect on the solid progress we have made together, we must also recommit ourselves to redouble our efforts on the promise we made in 1998 and the agreements that followed,” Sunak said. in a statement marking Monday’s birthday.
“As we look ahead, we will celebrate those who made tough decisions, compromised and showed leadership.”
Sunak will attend a memorial conference at Queen’s University in the capital, Belfast, and host a gala dinner in honor of the anniversary, his Downing Street office has said.
Biden will “mark tremendous progress since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters ahead of his visit.
It will “underscore the willingness of the United States to support Northern Ireland’s enormous economic potential for the benefit of all communities,” she added.
The Irish-American president will travel south to Ireland on Wednesday, where he will spend three days in his ancestral homeland.
There he will “give a speech to celebrate the deep, historic ties” the country shares with the US, the White House said.
Biden’s visit will be closely monitored for signs of pressure on Sunak to end the deadlock in the Northern Ireland legislature caused by the Conservative Party’s loyalist allies.
– ‘Up and down’ –
The following week, Northern Ireland will continue the commemorations of the peace agreement with a three-day conference starting April 17 and hosted by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Her husband, Bill Clinton, played a vital role in securing the 1998 deal as US president from 1993 to 2001.
Upcoming events will celebrate Northern Ireland’s subsequent transformation, but will no doubt draw attention to its current woes.
In the years after 1998, Northern Ireland paramilitaries were disarmed, the militarized border dismantled and British troops left.
However, the peace process may now be more precarious than ever before.
Power-sharing institutions established by the accords have been paralyzed for more than a year by bitter disagreements over post-Brexit trade.
Despite Britain and the European Union agreeing in February to review the arrangements, that new deal – the Windsor Framework – has yet to gain the backing of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
It has boycotted Northern Ireland’s devolved government for 14 months over the issue, paralyzing the assembly, and it shows no signs of returning to power-sharing.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Sunday that Dublin, London and Belfast are “working to get the institutions up and running in the coming months”.
Meanwhile, the security situation has worsened, with Britain’s security services raising the province’s terror threat level to “severe” last month.
yy/ywp/yy
