US peace envoy urges unionists to restart power-sharing with Sinn Fein

2023-04-17

Northern Ireland peace envoy George Mitchell urges unionists to restart power-sharing with Sinn Fein saying stability doesn’t require them to ‘love one another’ on anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement

NI leaders must ignore those who ‘want everything their way all the time’
DUP refusing to restart the power-sharing executive at Stormont amid Brexit row

One of the architects of peace in Northern Ireland urged unionists to return to power-sharing with Sinn Fein today.

Former US senator George Mitchell said the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and others had to reject the views of the ‘100 percenters (who) want everything their way all the time’ at an event to mark 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Mitchell, 89, who was US president Bill Clinton’s peace envoy in 1998, gave a keynote speech on the first morning of the Agreement 25 conference at Queen’s University in Belfast, marking the anniversary of the deal which largely ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The commemoration comes at a time of political deadlock in Belfast, with the DUP refusing to restart the power-sharing executive at Stormont unless more concessions over the UK’s Brexit agreement are made.

They rejected Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework, agreed with the EU last month and are refusing to rejoin what nominally would be a nationalist-led government for the first time in Northern Ireland’s history.

At an event also attended by Hillary Clinton and Gerry Adams, Mr Mitchell said: ‘I know that each of your parties – like all political parties in the world – have some of what I call the 100 percenters, they want everything their way all the time – to them, any compromise is a sign of weakness.

‘I say to you that reasoned, principled compromise is essential, especially in divided societies. It reflects a belief in democratic values that we all are in this together.

Mr Mitchell, 89, who was US president Bill Clinton’s peace envoy in 1998 (pictured, centre, with Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern), gave a keynote speech on the first morning of the Agreement 25 conference at Queen’s University in Belfast, marking the anniversary of the deal which largely ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

The commemoration comes at a time of political deadlock in Belfast, with the DUP (leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson pictured) refusing to restart the power-sharing executive at Stormont unless more concessions over the UK’s Brexit agreement are made.

‘There is great depth in recognising that the only way to help us emerge from the rubble of conflict is that we must learn to understand one another.

We don’t need to love one another. We don’t even need to like one another, although we hope we could.

‘But we must learn to understand one another and to be able to say yes to one another, especially when the quicker and easier answer is no.

‘Because, like it or not, we are all in this together, facing the reality of the future, rather than clinging to the myths of the past, takes strength and courage, and vision.

‘Those we honour today showed those qualities a quarter of a century ago, they will be forever remembered.’

Former US secretary of state Mrs Clinton, who is hosting the Agreement 25 conference as part of her role as chancellor at Queen’s University in Belfast, urged current politicians to move forward with ‘the same spirit of unstoppable grit and resolve’ as their predecessors had done.

Ex-US president Bill Clinton, Sir Tony Blair and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern are also scheduled to participate in the three-day event, 25 years on from the landmark accord.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are due to attend later in the week.

The agreement largely ended Northern Ireland’s 30-year sectarian conflict.

During his speech, Mr Mitchell asked the audience to observe a moment of silence in tribute to the victims of the Troubles.

He also ask them to applaud for the politicians who struck the agreement 25 years ago.

‘I say now to the current and future leaders of Northern Ireland, there is much in your history and in your politics that divide you, but there also is much that can bring you together, that can inspire you to continue what your predecessors began a quarter century ago,’ he 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 of Northern Ireland.

‘Yes, they often disagree, sometimes very strongly.

‘Yes, they may take offence quickly. But it is unmistakably clear that the people of Northern Ireland do not want to return to violence, not now and not ever.’

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