THE PEACE: THERE'S STILL A LONG WAY TO GO
The peace: 'there's still a long way to go'
By Martin Anderson
SECRETARY of State Mo Mowlam told delegates at a conflict resolution conference in Belfast that it was still too early to learn lessons from the Irish peace process.
Speaking at the Fourth European Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution in the Wellington Park hotel, she said there was still a long way to go on the road to peace,
"I think it's a bit too soon to draw specific lessons for elsewhere," she said, "We've come a long way but there's still a long way to go. We have a lot of hurdles yet to climb over,
"We need many more months to settle the agreement down and many more years before we deal with some of the hatred and fears from one community to the other.
"We must never forget it's a process and it will take much more time before we can be sure that progress has been made, that it will last and be stable,"
Dr Mowlam outlined lessons that she believed she had learnt from her involvement in the peace process and praised the party leaders who agreed the Good Friday document.
"The reason we made it in the end was the determination and courage of the party leaders actually had to do the accommodation.
"We can be courageous as governments but in the end we don't have to live on the same streets as the people we represent.
"We should never underestimate that it was the parties, in terms of the Good Friday agreement, who got us through that door,"
Speaking about President Clinton's visit to Omagh, she said she had misjudged the mood of people in the town,
"I said to the Clinton administration 'no flags, the mood I not like when you came the last time' but I was wrong," she said,
"The people in Omagh were determined to build for the future and not let them be remembered for the appalling atrocity they had just lived through,
"When the people are at that point then you know momentum is possible and movement is possible,
"Appallingly, I think that helped push things forward because the pain that people went through in Omagh said to people right in the face 'do we really want to continue with this?'."
The five-day conference runs until Tuesday and is hosting delegates from across Europe including a woman from Kosovo who broke down in tears as she asked Mo Mow for her suggestions on how the conflict in her own country could be resolved.
Dr Mowlam offered her sympathies to the woman and all the people who had suffered in Balkan conflicts but said believed the circumstances in Northern Ireland were very different and there were few lessons that could be transferred.
By Martin Anderson
SECRETARY of State Mo Mowlam told delegates at a conflict resolution conference in Belfast that it was still too early to learn lessons from the Irish peace process.
Speaking at the Fourth European Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution in the Wellington Park hotel, she said there was still a long way to go on the road to peace,
"I think it's a bit too soon to draw specific lessons for elsewhere," she said, "We've come a long way but there's still a long way to go. We have a lot of hurdles yet to climb over,
"We need many more months to settle the agreement down and many more years before we deal with some of the hatred and fears from one community to the other.
"We must never forget it's a process and it will take much more time before we can be sure that progress has been made, that it will last and be stable,"
Dr Mowlam outlined lessons that she believed she had learnt from her involvement in the peace process and praised the party leaders who agreed the Good Friday document.
"The reason we made it in the end was the determination and courage of the party leaders actually had to do the accommodation.
"We can be courageous as governments but in the end we don't have to live on the same streets as the people we represent.
"We should never underestimate that it was the parties, in terms of the Good Friday agreement, who got us through that door,"
Speaking about President Clinton's visit to Omagh, she said she had misjudged the mood of people in the town,
"I said to the Clinton administration 'no flags, the mood I not like when you came the last time' but I was wrong," she said,
"The people in Omagh were determined to build for the future and not let them be remembered for the appalling atrocity they had just lived through,
"When the people are at that point then you know momentum is possible and movement is possible,
"Appallingly, I think that helped push things forward because the pain that people went through in Omagh said to people right in the face 'do we really want to continue with this?'."
The five-day conference runs until Tuesday and is hosting delegates from across Europe including a woman from Kosovo who broke down in tears as she asked Mo Mow for her suggestions on how the conflict in her own country could be resolved.
Dr Mowlam offered her sympathies to the woman and all the people who had suffered in Balkan conflicts but said believed the circumstances in Northern Ireland were very different and there were few lessons that could be transferred.
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0436
Published Date: 13-Oct-98
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