Events planned in Northern Ireland today to mark 20th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement
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Events planned in Northern Ireland today to mark 20th anniversary of Good Friday Agreement

THE 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement will be marked by a number of key events taking place in Northern Ireland today.

The historic document was signed at 5.30pm on Thursday 10 April 1998, ending three decades of violence in Northern Ireland.

Many of those who had a role in those negotiations will be in Belfast today, including then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Former US President Bill Clinton will also visit Belfast today to receive the freedom of the city alongside his former special envoy to Northern Ireland, George Mitchell.

Last night, Mr Clinton delivered the keynote address to mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the agreement at the George Moore Auditorium in University College Dublin's O'Brien Centre for Science.

The milestone of the Agreement's signing comes amid the collapse of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government and concerns that Brexit could see the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

The turmoil at Stormont has led some to question the sustainability of the Good Friday Agreement.

President Clinton warned of the sclerotic and corrosive impact inertia can have on a people.

He also said that unless the parties in Northern Ireland resolve their differences 'they risk languishing in purgatory or returning to hell'.

In a separate interview with RTE Radio's Morning Ireland this morning, George Mitchell said there was a "widespread fear" that if the talks were to fail there would be an "imminent and massive resumption of violence probably on a scale exceeding what had taken place in the previous quarter century".

He said he told the political leaders that "if you don't make an agreement now there's going to be violence ... and the only thing you will be remembered for is that you let peace slip out of your grasp".