When on April 10, 1998 it was possible to sign the Good Friday Agreement that sealed peace between Catholics and Protestants, the former US senator George Mitchell he told the leaders of Northern Ireland that he had a dream. She had missed most of the first six months of her son’s life trying to make the arduous negotiations come to fruition, so when the deal was finally struck, she promised that at some point she would return to Belfast with the child to being able to sit in the public gallery of the Stormont Assembly to see how representatives of both communities governed in coalition. Fourteen years later, she kept his promise. The debate was extremely technical and boring, but for him it was “music to the ears, something completely wonderful”.
Joe Biden, however, will not be able to live the same experience. The American president, with Irish roots, arrives in Belfast to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the historic agreement. But the visit has been overshadowed by the blockade of the regional executive that has lasted for more than a year due to the refusal of the unionists of the DUP to occupy their seats in protest against the new customs controls that must be carried out now after Brexit.
One of the main clauses of the Good Friday Agreement is the sharing of power between Catholics and Protestants. However, in recent years Stormont Assembly has barely been running 40% of the timesince parties from both communities have blocked the institutions for reasons of all kinds that have nothing to do with the peace process.
Before boarding the plane for the Northern Irish capital, Biden said he wanted to “underscore America’s commitment to preserving peace and fostering prosperity.” Her visit to Belfast will be the start of a four day trip in the region during which he will talk about his Irish roots and even have the opportunity to meet with distant relatives. Hence she came accompanied by his sister Valerie and their son Hunter.
The big act for today will be a speech at the new Ulster University and, according to the local press, he also intends to meet with the main Northern Irish parties in order to resolve the political crisis.
In the afternoon, it will set course for the Republic of Ireland where on Thursday will speak before both houses of Parliament. For his part, on Friday he will go to the Cathedral of St Muredach in Ballina, County Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland, where part of his family comes from.
Behind the scenes, the visit would have created certain tensions with Downing Street. A spokesman for Number 10 said yesterday that there is an “excellent, incredibly positive working relationship” between London and Washington. But the truth is that the meeting between Biden and the premier Rishi Sunak is going to be rather low profile.
The Briton received him last night at Belfast International Airport shortly after 8:00 p.m. local time and both will hold a meeting this Wednesday brief meeting “for coffee” in the morning. But Sunak will not be present at the University of Ulster, the only official act that the tenant of the White House will star in the British province, something really significant. Although it is expected that the leader tory trip to the United States next June.
Despite the fact that Biden will barely be on British soil for 24 hours, the city of Belfast has been armored with the biggest police operation in the last decade. Law enforcement have cordoned off various areas in the center of the Northern Irish capital to prevent vehicles and control pedestrian traffic, while reinforcing their presence on the streets with additional troops brought in from other parts of the UK.
Intelligence services have also increased the terrorist threat to serious, the second highest in an escalation of five, in the face of possible attacks by dissident Republican groups. Hooded youths linked to Saoradh, the political wing of the New IRA, fired Molotov cocktails at an armored police Land Rover on Monday during an unauthorized parade at a dissident stronghold on the Creggan estate near Derry-Londonderry, one of the scenarios where the worst atrocities were experienced during the so-called ‘Troubles’, the bloody three-decade conflict between Catholics and Protestants in which more than 3,500 people lost their lives.
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