In Belfast, Clinton seeks power-sharing progress
BELFAST - US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made an emotional appeal to Northern Ireland’s lawmakers yesterday, urging them to overcome the final hurdles in the peace process that has transformed their blood-soaked land.
Clinton was bringing her star power to an issue she has been deeply involved with since her days as first lady, when then-President Clinton helped broker the 1998 Good Friday peace accords.
That pact is credited with ending the religious violence that had caused more than 3,600 deaths in Northern Ireland since 1969.
But the US secretary of state expressed concern yesterday that peace could be still undermined by the economic crisis, by the assassinations that still occur occasionally, and by bickering among politicians about the last steps in the peace agreement.
“There are still those looking to seize any opportunity to undermine the process and destabilize this government. Now they are watching this assembly for signs of uncertainty or internal disagreement,’’ Clinton said in a speech to the Northern Ireland legislature.
While only a small number of dissident paramilitary groups remain, she said, their actions “threaten the security of every family in Ireland. Moving forward with the process will leave them stranded on the wrong side of history.’’
Clinton spoke from a podium in the well of the 108-member assembly, surrounded by people who played major political roles during what were known as The Troubles.
On one side of the paneled assembly hall, sitting in the front row, was Gerry Adams, leader of the Catholic party Sinn Fein, which was closely linked to the Irish Republican Army during the years of bloodshed.
On the other side sat a stooped, white-haired Ian Paisley, the longtime leader of Sinn Fein’s nemesis -the Protestant-dominated Democratic Unionist Party.
At the end of her speech, legislators rose in a standing ovation for Clinton, the highest-ranking politician to address the body since it was created nearly three years ago.
Peter Robinson, a Protestant who is coleader of the power-sharing government, said afterward that Clinton gave “a good speech.’’
“Make any speech in the Northern Ireland Assembly and nobody walks out - it’s a bit of a triumph,’’ he said.
