Be patient, Mitchell tells the North
The people of Northern Ireland must be ‘‘patient, steady and forward looking’’ at a time of great strain on the peace process, the US politician who brokered the Good Friday Agreement claimed today.
Former Stormont talks chairman George Mitchell, who recently took part in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, insisted that despite recent sectarian clashes in Belfast the North was still in a better position than the Middle East.
‘‘There are many friction points (in the peace process) - both geographic and in terms of issues - but I tell you I spent much of the past year in the Middle East and it is a relief to come to Northern Ireland,’’ he said as he arrived in Belfast to announce a post-graduate fellowship in a US university for a student from the North.
‘‘There have been many setbacks in the implementation phase following the Agreement since 1998, but I think overall people have to be patient, steady and forward looking.’’
While Northern Ireland’s pro-Agreement politicians are preparing for crisis talks later this week with Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Senator Mitchell remained optimistic about the North’s future.
He believed that the vast majority of people in both communities in Northern Ireland were opposed to a slide back into conflict.
‘‘When I announced the Agreement, I said it was a historic step but I also said at the time that by itself the Agreement did not guarantee peace or stability or reconciliation,’’ he told BBC Radio Ulster.
‘‘Those still had to be earned and there would be many difficult days ahead as has happened.
‘‘I think it is unrealistic to expect that difficulties and divisions that have built up over many decades, even centuries, are going to vanish with the stroke of a pen or in a short period of time.
‘‘I think that the political leaders are struggling to keep this process together and persuade people that however unpleasant the current situation is, it is much better than the alternative.
‘‘I think that is the view that ought to and will ultimately prevail.’’
Senator Mitchell was commenting as Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams met a group of US Congressmen in west Belfast.
The Sinn Fein leader was expected to head straight to Dublin to prepare for a crucial meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern later today.
The meeting will take place against the background of unionist pressure on Prime Minister Tony Blair to reprimand Sinn Fein over recent republican violence.
In a bid to allay unionist concerns, Mr Adams told an inauguration dinner for the party’s first Mayor of Belfast, Alex Maskey, on Saturday night that he wanted to play ‘‘a leadership role’’ in trying to end republican violence.
The Sinn Fein leader insisted: ‘‘I want to reiterate again that Irish republicans are absolutely and firmly committed to the peace process.
‘‘I want to assure unionists that the republican promotion of the equality and justice and human rights agenda is about securing the entitlements of every citizen and of building a strong and open democracy in which we can all promote and articulate our differing goals peacefully and democratically.’’
