BELFAST(AFP)-Northern Ireland marks the 25th anniversary of a landmark 1998 peace deal on Monday, but the British state is plagued by political dysfunction and security concerns that threaten to overshadow a historic milestone.
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 kick off a high-profile multi-day celebration.
The territory has grown significantly since pro-British trade unionists and pro-Irish nationalist leaders struck an unlikely peace deal after marathon negotiations on Easter Good Friday, April 10, 1998.
The Good Friday pact, brokered by Washington and ratified by the governments of London and Dublin, nearly ended 30 years of devastating sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland and intermittent terrorist attacks on mainland Britain.
The so-called “Trouble” killed him more than 3,500 people. They pitted the mostly Protestant Unionists, who wanted continued British rule, against the Catholic Republicans, who wanted equal rights and reunification with the Republic of Ireland.
But a quarter-century later, Northern Ireland is enjoying a hard-won peace achievement as a post-Brexit trade deal fuels political instability and escalates violence by opposing Republicans.
‘Potential’
The British leader will attend and host a commemorative ceremony at Queen’s University in the capital Belfast, his Downing Street office said.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters before the visit that Biden “will have made great strides since the signing of the Belfast/Good Friday deal.”
It “underlines the United States’ willingness 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 and spend three days at his ancestral home to partially trace his family history.
According to the White House, he will “deliver a speech celebrating the deep and historic bond” he shares with the United States there.
The following week, Northern Ireland will continue its commemoration of the peace agreement at his three-day conference, which will begin on April 17th, and will be hosted by former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Her husband, Bill Clinton, was president of the United States from 1993 until he was in 2001, and played a key role in securing the 1998 deal.
The upcoming event will celebrate Northern Ireland’s final transformation, but the focus will undoubtedly be on the challenges of the day. Since 1998, Northern Ireland’s paramilitary forces have been disarmed, militarized borders dismantled and British forces withdrawn.
But the peace process is perhaps more volatile than at any time since.
‘back and forth’
The power-sharing institutions created by the deal have been crumbling for more than a year due to bitter disagreements over post-Brexit trade.
The UK and the EU agreed to amend the deal in her February, but the new deal, the Windsor Framework, has yet to find support from the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).
Boycott Northern Ireland’s devolved government over the issue for 14 months, paralyzing parliament and showing no signs of returning to power sharing. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Sunday that Dublin, London and Belfast “are working towards setting up and operating institutions in the coming months”.
Meanwhile, the security situation is deteriorating, with British security agencies raising the state’s terrorist threat level to “serious” last month.
Police last week warned of “strong” reports that dissidents were planning an attack on police officers in the city of Londonderry on Easter Monday.
