Former US Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell ’54, H’83 returned to Northern Ireland to mark the anniversary of the peace accord he brokered a quarter-century ago.
As US special envoy, Mitchell chaired two years of negotiations that led to the landmark 1998 peace accord, the Good Friday Good Friday Agreement, which ended three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, a period known as “the Troubles.”
He joined former President Bill Clinton and political leaders from the UK, Ireland, and Northern Ireland at Queen’s University in Belfast to mark the twenty-five-year milestone.
“The people of Northern Ireland continue to wrestle with their doubts, their differences, their disagreements,” said Mitchell, who is now 89, during the keynote address, adding: “The people of Northern Ireland don’t want to return to violence—not now and not ever.”
Associate Professor of Government and Asian Studies Henry Laurence shared his insight on Mitchell's involvement in coverage seen on WMTW.
