John Hume, a moderate Catholic who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in reconciliation in Northern Ireland, died Monday at the age of 83, his family announced. "John died in the early morning after a short illness," his family said in a statement, thanking the staff at the Londonderry (north) nursing home, near the Irish border, where he spent the last months of his life.
The former Catholic nationalist leader was awarded the Nobel in 1998 along with the Protestant leader of the Unionist Ulster Party, David Trimble, in recognition of "their efforts to find a peaceful solution" to 30 years of "Troubles" having killed more than 3,500 people. A few months earlier, in April 1998, a peace agreement, known as Good Friday, had been concluded in Belfast between London, Dublin and the Protestant and Catholic parties. Foreign Minister Simon Coveney hailed on Twitter "an extraordinary man, peacemaker, politician, leader, civil rights activist".
He intended to become a priest
Born in Londonderry on January 18, 1937, John Hume initially intended to become a priest but after a passage through the seminary, he changed his mind and graduated in history and French, which he spoke fluently.
He taught in the conflict-torn city of Londonderry, where he began to engage in politics. Elected independent to the British provincial parliament in 1969, he was one of the founders the following year of the left-wing nationalist party SDLP, the Social Democratic and Labor Party. Elected to the British Parliament in 1983, he helped in the following years to bring the North Irish conflict on the international scene, notably involving Bill Clinton.
Funeral with "very strict rules" because of the health situation
Locally, this moderate figure engaged in dialogue with the nationalists of Sinn Fein, the political branch of the Irish Republican Army, and its leader Gerry Adams, laying the foundations for the peace agreements.
John Hume's family assured that due to current sanitary conditions, the funeral would take place "with very strict rules" regarding the number of people present. A tribute will be paid to him later.