Tributes to ‘giant force for peace’
Worldwide praise for Nobel Prize-winning SDLP politician John Hume following his death at age of 83
OBITUARY: Tributes have been paid to former SDLP leader John Hume, one of the key architects of peace in Northern Ireland, after his death at the age of 83.
Mr Hume, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the decisive part he played in ending the Troubles, had suffered illhealth for a number of years.
TRIBUTES HAVE been paid to former SDLP leader John Hume, one of the key architects of peace in Northern Ireland, after his death at the age of 83.
Mr Hume, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the decisive part he played in ending the Troubles, had suffered ill-health for a number of years.
The former Foyle MP had dementia and was being cared for in the Owen Mor nursing home in Londonderry.
He died in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson described Mr Hume as a “political giant”, while Irish premier Micheal Martin said he was a “great hero and a true peacemaker”.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed Mr Hume’s “epic” contribution to the peace process.
Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill also paid tribute.
Current SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said the island had lost its most significant and consequential political figure of the 20th century.
Mr Hume, a former MEP for Northern Ireland, was a founding member of the party he went on to lead for 22 years. He was a key figure in the civil rights movement of the late 1960s and throughout his political career
remained steadfast in his commitment to non-violence.
He is credited alongside figures such as Nelson Mandela for his work, while former US President Bill Clinton described him as Ireland’s Martin Luther King.
His participation in secret talks with then Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in the late 1980s and early 1990s was a key catalyst for the nascent peace process.
The SDLP leader faced intense criticism when his dialogue with
Mr Adams became public in 1993. Despite threats to his life, he persisted with his efforts to engage with the republican movement and to convince the IRA to end its campaign of violence.
The highlight of his career came in 1998 with the signing of the historic Good Friday accord which largely ended Northern Ireland’s 30-year sectarian conflict.
Along with Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, now
Lord Trimble, Mr Hume was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his contribution to stopping the bloodshed.
In 2010, Mr Hume was named
“Ireland’s Greatest” in a poll by Ireland’s national broadcaster RTE.
His death comes just six months after that of fellow Good Friday architect and long-time SDLP deputy leader Seamus Mallon.
Mr Johnson said there would have been no Good Friday Agreement without Mr Hume. He said: “John Hume was quite simply a political giant. He stood proudly in the tradition that was totally opposed to violence and committed to pursuing his objectives by exclusively peaceful and democratic means.”
Taoiseach Mr Martin described Mr Hume as a “great hero and a true peacemaker”.
In a statement, Mr Hume’s family said: “It seems particularly apt for these strange and fearful days to remember the phrase that gave hope to John and so many of us through dark times: we shall overcome.”
John Hume was quite simply a political giant.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson.