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Agence France-Presse

Northern Ireland this week marks the 25th anniversary of peace accords which have helped transform the UK province.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an end to more than 30 years of conflict over British rule.
The landmark agreement, also called the Belfast Agreement, was signed on April 10, 1998, between the then-prime ministers of Britain and Ireland, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern.
Eight political parties or groupings also signed the document, stating in the text that it was a “truly historic opportunity for a new beginning”.

US President Bill Clinton sent Senator George Mitchell to chair the talks.
Three decades of violence between mostly Catholic republicans on one side and mainly Protestant unionists on the other had left a “deep and profoundly regrettable legacy of suffering”.
“We must never forget those who have died or been injured, and their families,” they wrote.
“But we can best honour them through a fresh start, in which we firmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust, and to the protection and vindication of the human rights of all.”
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The declaration committed participants to “partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships” and “exclusively democratic and peaceful means”.
The agreement has little specific to say about border arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland – an issue that has come to the fore since Brexit.
The text promised to develop “normalisation of security arrangements and practices”, including the “removal of security installations” and “other measures appropriate to and compatible with a normal peaceful society”.
This created an invisible border between north and south, satisfying republicans who wanted a united Ireland, and unionists who wished Northern Ireland to stay British.

This did not pose problems when both Ireland and the UK were in the EU.
But with Britain now out, it is proving more problematic, both practically in terms of enforcing EU and UK customs rules and, as many have pointed out, psychologically.
The prospect of any return of a hard border has been seen as a violation of those Good Friday Agreement obligations.
Residents living on both sides of the border say any physical infrastructure on the frontier would reintroduce an actual divide – and potentially fuel fresh violence.
Disunited kingdom as Northern Ireland violence escalates
Signatories reaffirmed their commitment to the total disarmament of all paramilitary organisations.
They also confirmed their intention to achieve the decommissioning of all paramilitary arms within two years.
A new human rights commission and equality commission were charged with ensuring respect for religious and cultural preferences.
The negotiators recognised “the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland”, including their freedom to choose union with Britain or Ireland.

In addition, they recognised that a majority favoured British rule and declared that Northern Ireland would remain part of Britain.
If this majority’s wish were to change, as indicated in a referendum, London agreed to enact legislation to allow Northern Ireland to become part of Ireland.
For this purpose, London and Ireland both revoked their constitutional claim to sole sovereignty over Northern Ireland.
The agreement provided for an elected 108-member assembly in Belfast, with responsibility for finance, economic development, health, education, welfare, environment and agriculture. Other responsibilities would remain with London.
Bloody Sunday still scars Northern Ireland 50 years after 13 civilians shot dead
The assembly would be led by a first minister and deputy first minister with a power-sharing balance between unionists and nationalists.
If both positions are not occupied, the executive cannot function – as has happened for the last year after pro-UK unionists walked out over their opposition to post-Brexit trade arrangements.
The agreement also set up a North/South Ministerial Council, bringing together assembly members and their counterparts in Dublin on issues of “mutual interest”.


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Britain

What is the Good Friday Agreement that helped bring peace to Northern Ireland?

A girl is seen on a street near a roadblock in a Catholic area of Belfast, Northern Ireland’s capital, in 1974. More than 3,500 people were killed during three decades of sectarian conflict over British rule in Northern Ireland, which began in the late 1960s. Photo: AFP

Ireland’s then-Prime Minister Bertie Ahern (left), US Senator George Mitchell and Britain’s then-Prime Minister Tony Blair (right) pose for a photograph on April 10, 1998 after signing the Good Friday Agreement. Photo: AFP

British troops stand guard behind barbed wire in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1970. Residents living on both sides of the border say any physical infrastructure on the frontier would reintroduce an actual divide – and potentially fuel fresh violence. Photo: AP

A street in London is seen in 1973 in the aftermath of a car bomb planted by the IRA, an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was for Northern Ireland to be removed from the UK. Photo: Central Press/AFP

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to meet Joe Biden in Northern Ireland

US President Joe Biden is flying to Northern Ireland on Tuesday to take part in events to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Photo: Reuters 

Britain’s Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, left, and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the House of Commons in London on March 22. Photo: PRU / AFP

UK and EU leaders to meet amid hopes of Northern Ireland protocol deal

An anti-Brexit pro-Irish unity billboard reading “No Hard Border”, pictured from the Dublin road in Newry, Northern Ireland, on the border between Newry in Northern Ireland and Dundalk in the Irish Republic. Photo: AFP

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. File photo: AP

UK PM, EU chief clinch Brexit deal over Northern Ireland trade

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Windsor, England, on Monday. Photo: via AP

Freight lorries are checked after disembarking from a ferry in Northern Ireland on Monday. Photo: AFP

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Leader Jeffrey Donaldson is seen responding to Rishi Sunak’s statement about the Northern Ireland Protocol in the House of Commons in London on Monday. Photo: PRU via AFP

Northern Ireland’s DUP to vote against Sunak’s Brexit plan

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Photo: UK Parliament via dpa

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Also called the Belfast Agreement, the pact was signed on April 10, 1998. It brought an end to more than 30 years of conflict over British rule
The agreement created an invisible border between the island’s north and south, which has been sorely tested since Brexit as Ireland remains in the EU


The landmark pact was signed 25 years ago on April 10, 1998. It created an invisible border between the island’s north and south, which has been sorely tested since Brexit.


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