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by Spixxy on June 4th, 2004

Spixxy

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What was the Belfast Agreement?

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  • by Jan Szafranski on June 7th, 2004

    Jan Szafranski

    I'm sure someone else can give a more historically detailed answer, but a quick general answer would be that the agreement was a milestone in British/Irish history. The landmass off the west of Britain, Ireland/Eire, was occupied at some point in history by the British. A subsequent division appeared separating Eire from Northern Ireland. The controlling, and minority, Prodestant inhabitants of NI requested that the British help police the country/region. This created tension with the existing Catholic inhabitants. The two factions: the English supported Prodestants and the Irish born Catholics became locked in a very long war or conflict (depending on your viewpoint). The ruling Prodestants outlawed the Catholics, deaths on both sides followed, and the Catholics blamed the British government for getting involved. The conflict spread to British soil. The political party representing the Catholics was (and is) Sinn Fein and the army was called the IRA (Irish Republican Army). They believed that they were at war and behaved accordingly. To British rule, which did not recognise the status of war, they were seen as terrorists and treated as such. This ran for many, many years.

    The Belfast Accord (or rather the "Stormont Agreement") was an agreement for Britain to pull out of ruling the country, and to return control back to NI, including its own assembly/parliament. It was signed by the (newishly elected) Labour government in Britain at the turn of the 21st Century on Good Friday (which is why it's also known as the "Good Friday Agreement"). This newly formed Irish government would include both sides, Catholic and Prodestant, working together to govern the country. There were, and still are, several caveats such as the decommissioning of arms and the release of political prisoners/terrorists. Although far from resolved, the Belfast Agreement has helped to start repairing the decades long conflict.

    As mentioned at the start of this answer, I am no historian so this is only a quick summary which will hopefully point you in the right direction.

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