Former foes salute Martin McGuinness, IRA man turned peacemaker
BELFAST/LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland, (Reuters) - Martin McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army commander who laid down his arms to become a major architect of peace in Northern Ireland, died on Tuesday aged 66, drawing tributes from allies and former enemies alike.
The face of Irish Republicanism during some of the worst moments of “The Troubles” that killed more than 3,600 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 U.S. 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 during the opening salvoes of the conflict as a 20-year-old IRA commander fighting the British army on the streets of his native Londonderry 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.