President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Northern Ireland must “not go back” to the violence that scarred it for years before a U.S.-brokered peace deal 25 years ago, nudging politicians to resolve a political crisis that has left this part of the United Kingdom without a functioning government.
said Wednesday that Northern Ireland must "not go back" to the violence that scarred it for years before a U.S.-brokered peace deal 25 years ago, nudging politicians to resolve a political crisis that has left this part of the United Kingdom without a functioning government.
"Where barbed wire once sliced up the city, today we find a cathedral of learning, built of glass," he said. Biden’s visit was timed to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday accord, which the U.S. was key to striking. Biden credited people who were willing to "risk boldly for the future" by reaching the agreement, reminding the audience that "peace was not inevitable."
Biden has faced mistrust from pro-British unionists because of his Irish American heritage. Sammy Wilson, a DUP lawmaker in the U.K. Parliament, told Talk TV that Biden "has got a record of being pro-republican, anti-unionist, anti-British" — a claim the White House firmly denied. Biden also had tea with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his Belfast stopover. The president spent less than 24 hours in Northern Ireland before moving on to the Republic of Ireland to begin a three-day visit, scheduled to include an address to the Dublin parliament, attendance at a gala dinner, and trips to two ancestral hometowns.
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