US President Joe Biden on Tuesday left Washington for Northern Ireland on a visit to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended 3 decades of bloody conflict in this British province.
Air Force One took off before noon for Belfast, where Biden will be greeted by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
The program begins on Wednesday and includes a meeting with Sunak and a speech to students.
Biden intends to praise the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement negotiated 25 years ago, as well as the progress made since then.
The agreement, also known as the 1998 Belfast Agreement, ended the civil war between pro-union Protestants and Catholics supporting reunification with the Republic of Ireland.
Biden plans to travel Wednesday evening to the Irish capital, Dublin, where he will address the Irish Parliament.
Predecessors of the President
Biden's family has Irish ancestry, as his ancestors once immigrated from Ireland to the United States.
While in Ireland, Biden plans to visit several places where his ancestors hail.
In a related context, the Northern Ireland Police said earlier that a number of masked men threw incendiary devices and other objects on one of its cars to express opposition to the Good Friday peace agreement, a day before the visit of the US president.
A photo showed four youths in Craigan - predominantly Irish nationalists - throwing Molotov cocktails at a police car that was covered in flames on one side. Police said no one was injured and urged calm.