Page 84 - David Trimble News Today

US presidents have championed peace process while facing political stalemate on the ground

President Joe Biden will celebrate the Good Friday Agreement, as the Northern Ireland government is being tested by political turmoil.

Here is the full speech by US President Joe Biden, checked against delivery at Ulster University in Belfast:

Here is the full speech by US President Joe Biden, checked against delivery at Ulster University in Belfast: Good afternoon, everyone. What a great – plea...

Twenty-five years ago, British prime minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern signed the Good Friday Agreement, achieving peace in Northern Ireland after three decades of sectarian violence known as the Troubles claimed more than 3,500 lives.

The Good Friday Agreement largely ended the “Troubles”, three decades of violence that had racked Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. It was signed on April 10, 1998 – which fell that year on Good Friday in the Christian Easter holiday. The deal was formally two interlinked agreements: a treaty between the British and Irish governments and an agreement between the Northern Irish parties.

At 74, the former Sinn Féin leader has every intention of living long enough to see a united Ireland

Conflict erupted amid sectarian rioting in Belfast and elsewhere in the late 1960s, partly triggered by an emerging Catholic civil rights movement. More than 3,600 people were killed over the next 30 years, mostly by paramilitary groups on both sides such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and pro-British Protestant groups usually known as "loyalists".

President Joe Biden will celebrate the Good Friday Agreement, as the Northern Ireland government is being tested by political turmoil.

3 April 1998: Peace talks are reaching a conclusion, but can nationalist and unionist leaders persuade their supporters to accept it?