It has been 25 years since the striking of the Good Friday Agreement, the landmark peace accord that ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, a period known as “the Troubles.”.
FILE - From right, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, pose together after they signed the Good Friday Agreement for peace in Northern Ireland, on April 10, 1998. It has been 25 years since the striking of the Good Friday Agreement, the landmark peace accord that ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, a period known as the Troubles.
The situation deteriorated into a conflict involving Irish republican militants, loyalist paramilitaries and U.K. troops. Bombings and shootings killed some 3,600 people, mostly in Northern Ireland, though republicans also set off bombs in mainland Britain.By the early 1990s, the armed conflict had reached “a hurting stalemate,” said Katy Hayward, professor of political sociology at Queens University Belfast.
The following month, the agreement was ratified by voters in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.The agreement gave formal recognition to Northern Ireland’s multiple identities, allowing residents to identify as British, Irish or both. The British military withdrew and dismantled its bases and border checkpoints. People and goods could flow freely across the all-but-invisible border between Northern Ireland and the republic.Four months after the agreement, IRA dissidents planted a car bomb that killed 29 people in the town of Omagh, the deadliest single attack in Northern Ireland.