Opinion

Death of a peacemaker

When we look back at the process leading to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, observers from a younger generation may well feel that the sequence of events was largely inevitable and could logically only have reached one outcome.

There can be no doubt that a powerful momentum towards peace did evolve over many years and a yearning for a political settlement existed in the hearts of ordinary people from all traditions.

However, those who lived through the darkest periods when one atrocity followed another will also vividly recall the occasions when the tentative negotiations were on the brink of a collapse which could only have been surrounded by unprecedented levels of bloodshed.

When all hope seemed lost, and we were at grave risk of being swept away by a tide of despair, the person who stood tall and refused to yield was John Hume.

Mr Hume, who died yesterday at the age of 83, did not simply take risks in the pursuit of progress but was prepared to put his entire reputation as SDLP leader on the line at crucial stages.

A defining moment came, as we report today, when he attended the funeral of one of the eight people shot dead by the UDA at the Rising Sun bar in Greysteel, Co Derry, at Halloween in 1993.

He was facing bitter criticism from a range of sources over his involvement in talks with Sinn Féin which were designed to achieve an IRA ceasefire, and there were fears that he would be driven out of public life.

Then the relative of a victim stepped forward to tell Mr Hume that her grieving family had gathered round the coffin the previous night to pray that he would be successful in his efforts to prevent their suffering from being repeated.

A photograph of the encounter, accompanied by the headline `Softly, in sadness, voices speak out to call for the embrace of peace', dominated The Irish News edition of the following day.

Mr Hume persevered, and within a year the main paramilitary groups had suspended their campaigns and the Stormont power sharing institutions were eventually established.

His health was declining by the time the new era arrived, but, more than any other individual, Mr Hume was responsible for its delivery, and he ultimately succeeded in his steadfast aim of changing Ireland for the better.