Joe Biden has come to the Irish island to celebrate 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed.
The agreement, which was concluded on Good Friday 1998, ended the violent conflict that had marked Northern Ireland for decades, but there are still forces that want to use violence to make reconciliation more difficult.
– That the peace is maintained is the main thing. It looks like we have to keep our fingers crossed, Biden said shortly before departing from Washington DC, according to The Guardian.
Pipe bombs found
During late Tuesday afternoon, police in Creggan, outside the city of Omagh, found four pipe bombs in a cemetery.
The city is not close to any planned route for Biden, but became a wake-up call for police to further increase vigilance after last week’s warning of possible terror attacks over the Easter weekend.
– These are disgusting acts and those responsible show total contempt for the whole community, says Bobby Singleton, Deputy Chief Constable in Derry, to Sky News.
Paying homage to the close ties
According to the BBC, the police effort around Biden’s visit is the largest in Northern Ireland in over ten years, and the local police have been helped by around 300 colleagues from the rest of the UK.
Biden was met at the airport by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The two are due to meet on Wednesday with Northern Irish political leaders from pro-Irish nationalists as well as pro-London unionists – but the White House emphasizes that the meeting is only informal and that Biden will not participate in political talks. The US president will then give a speech at Ulster University in Belfast.
During his trip, Biden will also visit Ireland’s capital Dublin to meet with President Michael Higgins and Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
Biden will also have time to visit Ballina in northwest Ireland, where his family comes from and where distant relatives still live. He is expected to give a speech there in which “the deep historical ties between the United States and the Republic of Ireland” will be celebrated, according to the White House.