By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer
Washington -- The agreement by Northern Ireland’s two biggest political parties to have the Northern Ireland Assembly assume control over policing and justice powers is “another important step toward a full and lasting peace,” says Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Clinton added that she has invited Northern Ireland leaders to Washington to discuss ways to build upon the agreement and promote peace through private sector investment. “This latest success in Northern Ireland points the way forward — and not only for this one conflict. Northern Ireland gives us hope that, despite entrenched opposition and innumerable setbacks, diligent diplomacy and committed leadership can overcome generations of suspicion and hostility,” Clinton said in a February 5 statement. The February 5 accord between the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein resolves a long-standing dispute between the two parties on the timetable for the transfer of policing and justice powers, known as devolution, from the British Parliament to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The two parties agreed to a March 9 vote in the assembly to devolve those powers beginning April 12. “The accord they reached today will help consolidate the hard-won gains of the past decade,” Clinton said. She praised DUP leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, who serves as deputy first minister, for displaying “the kind of leadership that the people of Northern Ireland deserve.” She also invited both leaders to join her and U.S. Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland Declan Kelly in Washington “to discuss further investment in Northern Ireland and ways to build on this agreement.” In her statement, Clinton recognized the “leadership and patient resolve” of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Irish Taoiseach (prime minister) Brian Cowen, Northern Ireland Secretary Shaun Woodward and Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin, who have “stayed resolutely focused on moving this process forward.” “I know that at times the path forward was far from clear. So I want to applaud all the parties for ultimately choosing negotiation over confrontation,” she said. It is “not the end of the journey,” and a “new chapter of partnership” in Northern Ireland must now begin, she said. “I want to reaffirm the commitment of the United States — and my personal commitment as well — to support Northern Ireland in every way we can.” When Secretary Clinton addressed a full session of the Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast on October 12, 2009, she pledged that the United States is “committed to helping you finish your journey,” including efforts to provide greater economic opportunities. “We intend to increase our economic engagement,” including more business-to-business collaboration between U.S. and Northern Irish companies, she said. A senior Obama administration official who asked not to be identified told reporters February 5 that Clinton has been in regular contact with leaders in Northern Ireland over the past year, using her role as a diplomat and as a former politician to “speak frankly with the parties about the considerations that they faced and how they could work through them to display leadership, even in the face of certain challenges and constraints.” She discussed ways they could “leverage the benefits of this accord” for the people of Northern Ireland, and pledged U.S. support for economic investment so that once an agreement was reached, it would “pay dividends that would result in better opportunities.” “The more that the people of Northern Ireland see their lives changed and improved and their opportunities increased because of the peace and stability that has been brought about by this series of agreements, the more likely the momentum continues,” the official said. The overall role of the United States is to facilitate, support and encourage the parties and “to provide support beyond mere encouragement through the economic envoy,” Declan Kelly, who the official said has strong ties on both sides of the Atlantic and years of experience in promoting investment. But “the United States is here to support the deal more than do the deal,” he added, and the credit “really goes to parties themselves and then to the British and Irish governments.” |
