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Clinton Urges Irish People to Protect Peace Process
US President Bill Clinton made a direct appeal to the people of Ireland Tuesday, December 12, to protect the peace process from the threat of violence.
Speaking in the Irish border town of Dundalk Tuesday evening, the U.S. president paid tribute to the advances that the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland had made, both economically and politically.
But he said that he had made his third and final visit to Ireland before the end of his presidency to ask the people to stand up for the peace that had been achieved since his first trip.
"I have come here to ask you to protect this progress, to cherish it and build on it," he said.
Dundalk is the home ground of the Real IRA (Irish Republican Army), the group responsible for the Omagh bombing in 1998.
Clinton told the crowds that after Omagh, "you good people came onto the streets. You stood up for peace then and I ask you to do it again today, tomorrow and for the rest of your lives."
He acknowledged that there were "still a few hills to climb" in the peace process but there was now the advantage that people had experienced and known the value of peace.
"Life teaches us -- unionists, nationalists, born natives and immigrants -- you can't win by making your neighbors lose," he said.
Clinton said that the peace process had a deep global significance. "Nothing will compare to the gift Ireland gives the world if you make peace here permanent," he declared.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern thanked Clinton for his contribution to the peace process during the eight years of his presidency.
Ahern said the Irish government was committed to the "total rejection of those who would seek to destroy" the new peace.
Earlier Tuesday, President Clinton began his visit in Dublin with an appeal to the main players in the peace process not to allow a political reversal.
The process is currently deadlocked over the issues of the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons, particularly those of the Irish Republican Army, policing reforms, and demilitarization.
The imposition of sanctions on Sinn Fein by Northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble has also become a bone of contention among republicans and nationalists and is being challenged in the courts.
After his speech, Clinton flew into Belfast Tuesday night for his third and final visit to Northern Ireland as U.S. president.
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