Northern Ireland remains without peace, 25 years after the Good Friday Agreements

Euskaraz irakurri: Bakeak kimera da oraindik Ipar Irish, Ostiral Santuko Akordioak sinatu zirenetik 25 urte bete direnean

This Monday is fulfilled 25 years of the Good Friday Agreements end three decades of painful and violent conflict in Northern Ireland. The agreements of the April 10, 1998 marked the beginning of the end of the confrontations, from a consensus that is now waveringagitated by the political side effects of the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union.

The Northern Ireland conflict has its estate at the conquest of Ireland by the English, in the XII centuryAlthough relations were good until the XVI. Then Britain converted to Protestantism; Ireland remained Catholic. It was then that the British kings, especially to the rebellious north, sent Presbyterian settlers from Scotland, ancestors of today’s Unionist Protestants.

Centuries later, in 1921, and after two years of war the south gains its liberty and retains the name of Ireland; in return, the six northern counties, Ulster, remain in the United Kingdom. Is the separation of the island. In the north, unionist positions prevailed against those of the republicans, who wanted (and 100 years later still want) to integrate into independent Ireland.

The political and social discrepancies arose decades later in the creation of armed groups: on the side of the trade unionists, the paramilitaries came forward Ulster Volunteer Corpswhile on the rival side is the Irish Republican Army, known by its English abbreviation of TO GO.

three decades of violence

In 1968 the problems started‘The problems’in English), the euphemism with which a conflict that has claimed more than three decades 3500 lives (half, civilians) with two-thirds attributed to republican paramilitary groups and the rest to loyalist paramilitary groups and security forces.

One of the bloodiest and most remembered episodes, the Bloody Sundayin which British soldiers shot civilians during a protest march, killing 14 people (all Catholics), in full view of the public and press.

The agreement, which is now a quarter of a century old, had as its main challenge to create a new framework for political coexistence that would also reflect the complex social structure of a people divided in two, with divisions that have arisen even in religious matters, since Unionists are majority Protestants, while Republicans identify with Catholicism.

The agreements laid the foundations for a framework of respect between the two parties and, in the political arena, led to a new parliament in Belfast and a government that would undoubtedly become a coalition. The Nationalists, led by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and the Republicans, led by Sinn Féinthe political wing of the IRA forced to sit at the same table.

The armed groups gave up the fight armed and produced releases, while London agreed to give up much of its military presence. as a gesture of détente, in an almost celebratory atmosphere that transcended political protocol and included public figures.

United States, then under the leadership of the Democrat Bill Clintonacted as a mediator in these negotiations, which concluded with the signing of the two main political leaders of Ireland and the United Kingdom: Tony Blair for the British side and Bertie Ahern for the Irish side.

Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair.

attempts at violence

the agreementHowever, it did not mean the complete end of the violencefor although the main armed leaders agreed to lay down their arms, sure divisions within the IRAcreate subgroups that are still active and still pose a threat in the eyes of the authorities.

In fact, the british government decided to raise last March serious He counter-terrorism alert level, meaning that it is “highly likely” that attacks will occur. He reacted like that murder of a police officer in February, John Caldwell, shot dead after attending a children’s soccer game. The attack was claimed responsibility for the New IRA.

An independent study published in 2018 estimated 158 deaths from paramilitary activity following the signing of the Good Friday Accords.

The Brexit earthquake

Northern Ireland today is not the same as it was 25 years ago. In September 2022the census reflected for the first time that there were more people calling themselves Catholic than Protestant, and in the parliamentary elections in May Sinn Féin took first place for the first time, to the detriment of the DUP, which has always held the position of Prime Minister and thus the baton of the government.

Sinn Fein wins May 2022 elections. EFE

All this in a context that has been characterized since 2016 by the Brexit. In June of that year, a majority of British citizens – including in Northern Ireland – supported a referendum on the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, which forced to redraw a framework of relationships which had, as one of its most thorny points, the border with the island of Ireland.

The British government and the European Commission came up with what is known as Northern Ireland Protocolattached to the Brexit agreements and that the spirit of a ‘hard border’. It allowed Northern Ireland to remain linked to the common European market, but required the establishment of a series of controls on trade with England, Scotland and Wales.

Sunak and von der Leyen on the agreement on the Northern Ireland Protocol. EFE

Unionist suspicion of these controls, which claim it restricts smooth relations with the rest of the UK, has led to a political blockade in Northern Ireland, to the point that this area has no government since the last election. The DUP has refused to facilitate institutional functioning and agree to a new coalition until their demands are met.

The triple pulse resulted in March this year in the Windsor Framework, a new text that simplifies these controls and has been agreed by the majority of MPs in the House of Commons. However, the DUP has asked for time to investigate all details and derivatives and has yet to decide whether to take the final step to build bridges with Sinn Féin again.

Sunak will receive Biden

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, has stressed the transcendental importance of the Good Friday Agreements. “The Good Friday Agreements represented an incredible moment in our country’s history and a powerful and rare example of how a group of people did the previously unthinkable to create a better future for Northern Ireland,” Sunak said.

“In the days to come, I will think especially of that promise of a better future that we have offered to all citizens of Northern Ireland. It is my responsibility as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to make sure we deliver on it.” it,” he added.

The commemorative acts of the 25th anniversary of the agreements will have the President of the United States, Joe Biden (of Irish descent) as an exceptional guest. Biden arrives in the UK on Tuesday evening and is scheduled to visit Belfast, where both leaders will recall the brokerage work of then US President Bill Clinton to end decades of bloody conflict.