A visit full of symbols. US President Joe Biden is expected on the evening of Tuesday, April 11 in Northern Ireland on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement that ended three decades of violence.

Proud of his Irish origins, Joe Biden will visit the lands of his ancestors in the Republic of Ireland later this week. But he begins his visit to the British province with a bloody past, a sign of the attention he pays to the peace process but also more recently to the political tensions shaking Northern Ireland.

On April 10, 1998, the day that year of Good Friday before Easter, the Republicans in favor of reunification with Ireland and the unionists attached to remaining within the United Kingdom won an unexpected peace agreement after intense negotiations involving London, Dublin and Washington.

The agreement ended three decades of violence that left 3,500 dead, between unionists, mostly Protestants, and republicans mostly Catholic, with the involvement of the British army.

A quarter of a century later, the anniversary was observed without particular jubilation on Monday and was even marked by incidents targeting the police while Northern Ireland is in the midst of a political crisis, with institutions paralyzed for more than a year.

>> Read also: The Good Friday agreement in the troubled waters of Brexit

By far the main event surrounding the commemorations is the arrival of the US president who lands Tuesday night in Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. He will be welcomed directly on the tarmac by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Joe Biden is "very excited about this trip, and has been for some time now," John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, said Monday.

"Celebrating those who have made tough decisions"

On Monday, preparations were already well underway in Belfast to set up the ever-massive security apparatus that surrounds US presidents travelling abroad. Police had begun closing several downtown streets to traffic while police officers accompanied by dogs patrolled near City Hall.

Joe Biden will have a meeting Wednesday morning with Rishi Sunak, said John Kirby, before attending a conference at Ulster University Belfast to highlight "the tremendous progress since the signing of the agreement".

On Monday, Rishi Sunak stressed that the anniversary of the agreement was an opportunity to "celebrate those who made difficult decisions, accepted compromises and showed leadership".

A compromise that seems 25 years later out of reach in the province, where the institutions – created following the agreement and supposed to unite communities – have been paralyzed for more than a year due to disagreements related to Brexit.

Post-Brexit paralysis

The unionist party DUP (Democratic Unionist Party), viscerally attached to the province's membership of the United Kingdom, refuses to participate in the government until the post-Brexit provisions aimed at avoiding the return of a physical border with Ireland have not been abandoned.

In this already difficult context, Northern Ireland has also raised the level of terrorist threat after the attempted murder of a police officer in February claimed by members of a dissident republican group.

On Monday, incidents erupted in the border city of Londonderry, where police were targeted during an undeclared parade organized by a dissident Republican group. No injuries were reported.

For Joe Biden's visit to the province, more than 300 agents from the rest of the United Kingdom are expected to be mobilized.

Visiting family

Once the Northern Irish part of his visit is over, the US president must go to the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday and make a stop in County Louth (east) where part of his family is from, before joining Dublin in the evening.

Joe Biden's family emigrated in the mid-nineteenth century, fleeing famine-ravaged Ireland like so many others, eventually settling in Pennsylvania.

On Thursday, the US president is scheduled to meet with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and President Michael D. Higgins. He will also address Irish parliamentarians.

He will end his tour in County Mayo on Friday, where other of his Irish ancestors come from, by giving a speech outside the cathedral in the small town of Ballina.

His Irish tour also has political stakes on the American political scene. With his sights set on the 2024 election, Joe Biden wants to attract voters who aspire to the American dream of immigrant success.

With AFP

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