The people of Northern Ireland and their political leaders changed history 25 years ago when the Good Friday Agreement was signed, a major conference in Belfast has been told.
Former US senator George Mitchell, who chaired the negotiations in 1998, also said the deal set an example for peace around the world, and urged people in the region not to let it “slip away”.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who is hosting the Agreement 25 conference as part of her role as chancellor at Queen’s University in Belfast, urged current politicians to move forward with “the same spirit of unstoppable grit and resolve” as their predecessors had done.
It was a day when history opened itself to hope— George Mitchell
Ex-US president Bill Clinton, Sir Tony Blair and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern are also scheduled to participate in the three-day event, 25 years on from the landmark accord.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are due to attend later in the week.
The agreement largely ended Northern Ireland’s 30-year sectarian conflict.
Making the keynote address at the opening of the conference, Mr Mitchell said: “Twenty-five years ago the people of Northern Ireland and their leaders changed the course of history.
“It was a day when history opened itself to hope.
“The people of Northern Ireland supported, worked for and established a democratic, peaceful process as their preferred form of governance.
“They overwhelmingly rejected political violence as a way to resolve their differences.
“If history teaches us anything, it is that history itself is never finished.
“On the evening the agreement was reached, I commended the men and women who wrote and signed it, but I also said it would take other leaders in the future to safeguard and extend their work.
“And so it has.
“I am here, with many others, to sound that bell one more time.”
When you approved the agreement you were also talking to Israelis and Palestinians, to Colombians, to Africans, Asians, to Americans - in fact you were talking to the world— George Mitchell
Mr Mitchell said the peace deal was not perfect, but called on the current and future leaders of Northern Ireland to act with “courage and vision”.
He said: “To find workable answers to the daily problems of the present, to preserve peace.
“To leave to the next generation peace, freedom, opportunity and the hope of a better future for their children.”
At the end of his address, Mr Mitchell said the referendum which approved the Good Friday Agreement had shown people around the world the “possibility of hope”.
He said: “When you approved the agreement you were also talking to Israelis and Palestinians, to Colombians, to Africans, Asians, to Americans – in fact you were talking to the world.
“This is an agreement for peace and for the future, not just here, but everywhere.”
He added: “We need people who believe, who know that the possible does exist within the impossible – don’t let it slip away.”
The Good Friday Agreement created powersharing institutions at Stormont that involved nationalists and unionists governing Northern Ireland together in a mandatory coalition arrangement.
While the pact largely ended the Troubles, which had claimed more than 3,600 lives since the late 1960s, it has failed to bring long-term political stability in the region and devolution has collapsed several times in the last two decades.
The anniversary comes amid another period of collapse, with the DUP blocking powersharing in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements that have created economic barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
The barriers were first introduced under the Withdrawal Agreement’s contentious Northern Ireland Protocol.
The UK and EU recently agreed the Windsor Framework as a way to cut the red tape created by the protocol.
While the DUP says the framework has gone some way to address its concerns about the protocol, it says significant problems remain.
The party has opposed the framework at Westminster and has made clear its boycott of Stormont will continue until it secures further assurances from the UK Government over its concerns around sovereignty and the application of EU law in Northern Ireland.
Mrs Clinton said the Windsor Framework on post-Brexit trade provided Northern Ireland with an opportunity to become an economic hub for global trade and investment.
“While the Good Friday Agreement is an enormous achievement, we know that peace, prosperity and progress that so many have worked tirelessly to achieve remains incomplete,” she said.
“The work of integration and housing and schools is far from finished, neighbourhoods remain divided, poverty and unemployment persist, the difficulties of the past continue to threaten the present.
“You know, we are at a standstill with the Northern Ireland Assembly no longer functioning. But the Windsor agreement provides a path forward not just for convening but for positioning Northern Ireland as an economic hub for global trade and investment through privileged access to the UK and all of its trading partners, as well as the EU.”
You stand as an example to the world of how even the staunchest adversaries can overcome differences to work together for the common and greater good— Hillary Clinton
She added: “There have been many moments in Northern Ireland’s peace journey where progress seemed difficult, when every route forward looked blocked, there seemed nowhere to go.
“But you have always found a way through and I believe you will again, because the stakes for the people of Northern Ireland are so high.
“You stand as an example to the world of how even the staunchest adversaries can overcome differences to work together for the common and greater good.
“So, I encourage everyone now to move forward with the same spirit of unstoppable grit and resolve that brought the peace 25 years ago. Your friends in the United States will be behind you all the way as you work toward peace, prosperity and stability that lasts.”
