Bill Clinton hailed as ‘driving force’ behind Good Friday Agreement as Biden begins genealogy tour

As Northern Ireland celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of event violence next week, Bill and Hillary Clinton will take a bow – with President Biden Joe back home after only a brief stopover in Belfast .

As officials reflect on the sacrifices and luck that enabled this achievement to endure, some point to the centrality of US diplomacy and to President Clinton’s interventions during his term in office. When the deal came about, Clinton brought the skills he’d honed in American politics — from happy handing to cajoling and late-night play — to the task.

Clinton, who was on hand for TV interviews at the anniversary, will chair a panel next week titled “The Bailiffs,” with his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, presiding. That comes just two days after Biden completed his own swing through Northern Ireland and a visit to his ancestral homeland of Ireland.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern signed the agreement on April 10, 1998, after negotiations that lasted two years and ultimately helped end one of the world’s most inexorable armed conflicts. voters approved the agreement weeks after it was signed, turning the page into a violent period known as “The Troubles.”

This wouldn’t have happened without Bill Clinton [and] the United States,” said former New York Republican Representative Peter King. Clinton was a driving force. He was the first president ever to get involved. He took on his own State Department and the British government when he gave the visa to Gerry Adams,” King said of the Sinn Fein leader being allowed to come to the US for a two-day visit.

‘No one understood all the bizarre, unusual characteristics of these various Irish leaders. For Bill Clinton, for him, instead of being a mess, it all fit into a mosaic.”

It is Clinton, 76, whose contributions will be lauded at a major conference at Queen’s University in Belfast, taking place after the completion of Biden’s week-long trek to Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Clinton identified the issue as one he wanted to focus on before taking office, and when the time was right, brought in former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to oversee the negotiations.

“He was a great diplomat, but he would also have been a great therapist, incredibly patient—he listened to the same stories over and over,” said Gary Mason, a Methodist minister involved in the Northern Ireland peace process.

President Joe Biden flies to Belfast on Tuesday. He leaves for the Republican of Ireland on Wednesday afternoon

In this file photo from April 10, 1998, from the right, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, US Senator George Mitchell, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern pose together after signing the Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland. Clinton called Mitchell’s role “the toughest part-time job in history”

“And really, I think that was a huge benefit in pointing people in the right direction,” he said.

Clinton in a new one interview coupled with the anniversary called it “the toughest part-time job in history.”

During his trip this week, President Biden, 80, will address the breakthrough during remarks Wednesday at Ulster University, which is opening a new campus in Belfast.

“And he will underscore the willingness of the United States to preserve those achievements and support Northern Ireland’s tremendous economic potential for the benefit of all communities,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. “President Biden cares deeply about Northern Ireland and has a long history of supporting peace and prosperity there,” he added.

But while the White House says the trip is timed to be close to the actual anniversary, which has passed, Biden will be back in Washington by the time major events mark the deal.

Christopher Heaton-Harris, Britain’s Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said this week that Biden’s brief visit to Northern Ireland was not a censure and that people should “make the best of it,” so it’s a positive event. (It didn’t help that the meeting in Stormont is currently not functioning due to a Brexit-related deadlock).

Biden’s own journey includes tracing distant family ties in County Louth and County Mayo in the Republican of Ireland – after spending two years in office and regularly citing his Finnegan ancestors in speeches.

to pray tweeted on Jubilee Monday, saying it “ended decades of violence and brought stability” and said he looked forward to “celebrating the Jubilee in Belfast, demonstrating the US’s commitment to peacekeeping and promoting prosperity is underlined’.

One source never recalled that Biden was not heavily involved in the peace process, despite his senior position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 1990s, crediting Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and the late Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts for helping provide ” coverage’ for important steps in the process.

“I never remember him being involved,” the source said.

The multi-party agreement brought together the British government, the Irish government and most of the parties in Northern Ireland. As well as requiring armed factions on both sides to lay down their arms, it set up political structures and guaranteed representation in the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont.

Although he was personally interested in the issue, Clinton used White House power to try and generate movement, even inviting Adams to the White House in 1995 for a St. Patrick’s Day reception.

Crucial to the agreement’s success is that people who had experienced violence in the area wanted an end to terror and were willing to make sacrifices through negotiation.

‘Ultimately, people have to sit around the table. There’s no doubt about that,” Mason said.

“I remind people that in 1972 a little boy had a terrorist every 40 minutes. My life as a child consisted of going to bed and listening to the sound of guns, bombs in the distance and sometimes quite close. That world is completely gone.’

Clinton herself pointed it out in one opinion piece timed on the anniversary that the process was “popularly driven” and assisted by political leaders willing to show “real courage.”

Former Irish Toiseach Bertie Ahern in a recent interview called the necessary ingredient “cross community consent.”

If Biden is tempted to use his office and platform to try and secure a victory in getting a power-sharing scheme back on track in Northern Ireland, he should act lightly, former Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

“Americans can play a real role, but it’s something you have to do with caution because there’s a difference between influence and pressure,” he said. said.