US President Joe Biden arrived on Tuesday in Belfast, where he will celebrate twenty-five years of peace in Northern Ireland and try to restart a political dialogue that has been stalled for over a year.
Biden, who was greeted on arrival by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, will spend only a few hours in the British province. He will then travel to the Republic of Ireland, until Friday, in the footsteps of his maternal ancestors.
But before this sentimental part of his trip, a more delicate stage awaits the US president, who is accompanied by Joe Kennedy, his special envoy for Northern Ireland and a descendant of the most famous Irish-American political lineage.
Priority is to 'preserve the peace'
With this visit to the British province scarred by the bloody decades of the Troubles, Joe Biden is signalling his attention to the peace process but also more recently to the political tensions shaking Northern Ireland.
His priority will be to “preserve the peace,” he said before taking off from Washington on Air Force One.
The US president is due to meet informally on Wednesday with the leaders of Northern Ireland’s main political parties, at a time when the British province’s institutions have not functioned for more than a year.
On 10 April 1998, Good Friday, Republicans in favour of reunification with Ireland and Unionists committed to remaining within the United Kingdom reached an unexpected peace deal after intense negotiations involving London, Dublin and Washington.
An anniversary marked by incidents targeting police
The agreement ended three decades of violence that left 3,500 people dead, between mostly Protestant Unionists and mostly Catholic Republicans, with the involvement of the British army.
A quarter of a century later, there were no celebrations, but an anniversary marked by incidents targeting police in the border town of Londonderry.
Sunak said on Monday that the anniversary of the deal was an opportunity to “celebrate those who made difficult decisions, accepted compromises and showed leadership.”
There does not seem to be much time for compromise in the province, where institutions — created as a result of the deal and meant to bring communities together — have been paralysed for more than a year because of Brexit-related disagreements.
Washington keeps a close watch on Northern Ireland developments
The DUP unionist party, viscerally attached to the province’s membership of the UK, is demanding changes to post-Brexit arrangements that aim to avoid any physical border with the Republic of Ireland, and is refusing to take part in local government in the meantime.
The issue has been closely watched in Washington in recent months, and Joe Biden has made no secret of the fact that he would be opposed to London reneging on its international commitments in order to satisfy the unionists.
The British government recently reached a compromise with the Europeans, officially called the ‘Windsor Framework,’ but the DUP remains adamant.
The US president will have a meeting with Mr Sunak on Wednesday morning, before giving a speech at Ulster University in Belfast, a city under tight security with police reinforcements from across the UK.
Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who was in power in 1998, warned on the BBC that any American influence must show “caution and sensitivity” to unionists.
Visiting the land of his ancestors
Once the Northern Ireland leg of his visit is over, the US president is due to travel to the Republic of Ireland from Wednesday.
Joe Biden’s family emigrated in the mid-19th century, fleeing like so many others from a famine-ravaged Ireland, and eventually settling in Pennsylvania. As the 2024 presidential election in the USA approaches, such a story resonates with many voters yearning for the American dream.
Biden is scheduled to meet on Thursday with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and President Michael D. Higgins. He will also address Irish parliamentarians.
To conclude his visit, he will travel to the western town of Ballina, where more of his Irish ancestors came from, and deliver a speech in front of the cathedral there.
