Leaders pay tribute to Irish peacemaker
MARTIN McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army commander who laid down his arms to become a major architect of peace in Northern Ireland, has in death drawn tributes from allies and former enemies alike.
McGuiness died on Tuesday at the age of 66.
The face of Irish Republicanism during some of the worst moments of “The Troubles” that killed more than 3600 people, McGuinness remained a figure of hate for many pro- British Protestants until his death.
But the senior Sinn Fein party figure earned widespread respect across Britain, Ireland and beyond by embracing his bitterest rivals to cement the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement and allow Northern Ireland to slowly return to normality.
“He believed in a shared future, and refused to live in the past, a lesson all of us who remain should learn and live by,” former US President Bill Clinton, whose hands- on role was central to brokering the 1998 peace accord, said in a statement.
“His integrity and willingness to engage in principled compromise were invaluable in reaching the Good Friday Agreement.”
British Prime Minister Theresa May said she could never condone the path McGuinness took in his early years, but that he ultimately played a defining role in leading a move away from violence.
Her Irish counterpart Enda Kenny said the former Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister undertook a “remarkable political journey” and strove to make the British province a better place for everyone, regardless of background or tradition.
McGuinness was present at the start of the conflict as a 20- year- old IRA commander fighting the British Army on the streets of his native Derry where crowds lined the streets on Tuesday as his coffin, draped in the Irish flag, was carried past by Sinn Fein members including Gerry Adams.
About 3000 mourners gathered near Milltown cemetery in West Belfast, the scene of many nationalist funerals during three decades of Catholic- Protestant bloodshed.
Candles flickered and black flags fluttered on a makeshift platform as a minute’s silence was held and an Irish rebel song The Bold Fenian Men was sung.
“Martin McGuinness never went to war, it came to his streets, it came to his city, it came to his community,” fellow Republican leader Adams told Irish national broadcaster RTE.
“Martin led the IRA when there was a war but he led the IRA into peace. He was a great man in my opinion and he will be missed.”
McGuinness was active until the last weeks of his life, helping to orchestrate one of the biggest political victories for Irish nationalism in decades by forcing a snap election in March that deprived pro- British unionism of its majority in the regional parliament for the first time.
McGuinness leaves Northern Ireland at peace and, with the snap election outcome, his dream of a united Ireland is inching closer under a new generation, although Northern Irish politics remains divided.