The “premier” Rishi Sunak has urged unionists to accept a compromise for the formation of a government in Northern Ireland, amid scenes of violence in the streets of Derry at the hands of republican dissidents who threw Molotov cocktails at the police. The 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement coincided with the 1916 Easter Rising celebrations in Catholic neighborhoods.
More than 300 police officers arrived as reinforcements from other parts of the United Kingdom to join the security operation in Derry, where a plot to attack during the visit of US President Joe Biden has allegedly been dismantled. The launching of incendiary objects at the police occurred in the Creggan neighborhood, where the journalist Lyra McKee was shot dead by a dissident in 2019.
The recent shooting in Omagh of Detective John Caldwell, badly wounded before the eyes of his own son, has raised the specter of violence in the run-up to the anniversary. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Chris Heaton-Harris, has acknowledged that the recent terrorist alert demonstrates “the fragility of peace in Northern Ireland.”
In an article in The Daily Telegraph, Heaton-Harris says the Good Friday Agreement “cannot be taken for granted” and warns against “the intentions of a small group of people who want to take us back to the dark days.” . The outbreaks of violence in Derry occurred during the parade with hooded militants backed by the Saoradh party, considered the political wing of the New IRA, which since 2012 has brought together dissident groups that do not accept the peace process.
In any case, Northern Ireland celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement without a unity government, due to the disagreement between unionists and the republican, in the midst of a political paralysis that has lasted almost a year and with the highest alert for possible terrorist attacks .
Rishi Sunak used the occasion to urge local politicians to show “the leadership, courage, perseverance and imagination” that made the Good Friday Peace Agreement possible. “There is a lot of work on the part of the new generation of politicians and the Stormont Assembly must be revived as soon as possible,” declared the conservative leader, a day before Biden’s arrival in Belfast to celebrate “the tremendous progress” since the signing of the historic agreement in the last 25 years.
The recent tensions are largely due to the shock of Brexit and the political vacuum that has existed since May 2022, when Sinn Fèin first won the election and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to form a “power-sharing” government. , as stipulated in the Good Friday agreement.
“These groups have been committing terrorist attacks for years and continue to do so whether there is a government or not,” DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson apologized this week, in direct reference to the actions of the New IRA. The DUP was by the way the only major party that did not sign the peace agreement in its day after three decades of conflict that caused more than 3,500 deaths.
“There were very significant flaws in the agreement, which did not protect the rights of the victims and survivors, and yet gave preferential processing to the paramilitaries,” Donaldson alleges at the time of thus justifying his position. “We were also concerned about the confiscation of weapons and the disbandment of the Royal Uslter Police (RUC).
The DUP, currently the second largest political force in Northern Ireland, is however in a position of total isolation, refusing to accept the Windsor Agreement reached by Rishi Sunak with Brussels to put an end to the “frictions” caused by the Protocol from Ireland. The main unionist party believes that not all customs barriers have been removed and that Northern Ireland remains under the legislative orbit of Brussels.
From Dublin, the president of Sinn Fèin, Mary Lou McDonald, accused the DUP of “boycotting” the peace agreement and the formation of a unity government hypothetically led by Michelle O’Neill, local leader of the Republican party. McDonald also blamed the unionists for the paralysis of the institutions in Ulster, which has led President Biden to suspend his anticipated visit to the Stormont Assembly. For 9 of the last 25 years (four in the last decade) Northern Ireland has been without a government due to a lack of understanding between unionists and republicans.
“As we look forward, we will celebrate those who made difficult decisions and accepted a compromise,” Rishi Sunak declared on Monday, in a very direct reference to David Trimble (1998 leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, UPP) and John Hume. (leader of the Social Democratic and Labor Party, SDLP), architects of the Good Friday agreement, winners of the Nobel Peace Prize and recently deceased.
“We are commemorating those who are no longer with us and those who lost their lives trying to prevent violence and protect the innocent,” stressed Sunak, who will receive Joe Biden in person in Belfast on Tuesday. “We thank you as we reflect on the new generations that have grown and will continue to grow in a world where peace and prosperity must prevail.”
Sunak will alternate the bilateral meeting with Joe Biden with possible meetings with the political forces to try to unblock the situation and achieve the formation of a unity government. The British Government has been successively extending the deadline to reach an agreement and avoid calling early elections,
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
