Clinton praises NI peace progress

LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has urged all sides in Northern Ireland to continue in the quest for peace.

Clinton was speaking in Londonderry on Wednesday, the second day of his fourth trip to Northern Ireland, having arrived in the Republic of Ireland on Sunday.

He told crowds the city had come a long way since his last visit there six years ago.

He said: "I came here to reaffirm my beliefs that the Good Friday Agreement is still the right path to the future for peace and reconciliation.

"I hope that all of you will continue to work for a peaceful, just, fair, shared future for all the children."

Heckled throughout his address by a small group of noisy Socialist protesters, he called on people to "look to the far side of revenge."

"Look, I know not everything that was supposed to have happened has happened," he said.

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"I know not every provision of the Good Friday Accord has been implemented. I know people on both sides still have concerns and fears and frustrations.

"But I will just ask you to consider where you are now compared to where you were."

He spoke of the resurgence of conflict in the Middle East and said: "You compare it to what you have enjoyed for the last six years in Northern Ireland.

"Don't turn back. Re-dedicate yourselves to the path of peace."

Rejecting the protesters claims from the stage, he said: "If they can shout me down, I can shout them down -- and I have the microphone."

Clinton, who was accompanied by his daughter Chelsea, was welcomed to the city by dignitaries including MP John Hume and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.

Hume said: "I just didn't come to welcome Mr. Clinton and his daughter, but to express to him our deep gratitude and for the outstanding support and work that he did for our peace process.

"When you consider that he had the most powerful office in the world and right at the top of his agenda was peace on our streets. Our debt to him is historic."

On Monday, Clinton joined his one-time Irish envoy, former Senator George Mitchell, at a charity fund-raiser in Dublin, Ireland.

"For God's sake don't give it up. Hold on," Clinton said, addressing Northern Ireland's Catholics and Protestants as well as his Dublin audience.

Mitchell spent 22 months in Belfast overseeing multi-party negotiations on Northern Ireland's future that produced the Good Friday accord of 1998 leading to a joint Catholic-Protestant government.