Bill Clinton plays marriage counsellor at Good Friday Agreement's 20th anniversary
The former US President and peacemaker told Stormont 'not to give up on freedom' as divisions remain between DUP and Sinn Fein.
Wednesday 11 April 2018 09:08, UK
It was much like any other family gathering. Some looked happy to be there. Others didn't.
They took the obligatory photograph and ageing relatives reminisced about times gone by.
Uncle Bill and Uncle George had flown from the United States just to be at the party.
But 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement, there was an elephant in the room.
They were celebrating a wedding anniversary by attempting to avoid a divorce.
The parties who are supposed to be sharing power have been separated for 15 months.
So Bill Clinton, the President who made peace in Northern Ireland his priority, stepped in.
Why change the habit of two decades?
That's how long he's been peace-making in Belfast.
Behind closed doors, he met the DUP's Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein's Mary-Lou McDonald.
Restoring the mandatory coalition - their political marriage of convenience - won't be easy.
Their parties were already living separate lives when a finance scandal sent Stormont up in smoke.
The British and Irish governments have tried to mediate but they have problems of their own.
It's difficult to negotiate a settlement in Belfast and another in Brussels at the same time.
If anyone can reunite the DUP and Sinn Fein in government, it is William Jefferson Clinton.
He tells his friends the Good Friday Agreement was his greatest foreign policy achievement.
The ground-breaking 1998 compromise underpinned peace by moving power to Belfast.
No one ever imagined the two most diametrically opposed parties would end up sharing it.
For 10 years (2007-2017), there was a DUP First Minister and a Sinn Fein Deputy First.
They can't agree on an Irish Language Act or the introduction of same-sex marriage here.
So they didn't receive an anniversary gift.
Uncle Bill and Uncle George received it instead.
The former President and his peace envoy were awarded the Freedom of the City of Belfast.
If you read the small print, Freemen are entitled to drive a flock of sheep through the city.
They may find that easier than herding sheep through the corridors of power at Stormont.
But the President who did the match-making here refuses to give up on reconciliation.
So he borrowed some marriage guidance counselling advice: think of the children.
"Thank you for giving freedom to the children. Do not give up the freedom," he pleaded.