LONDON — David Trimble helped end decades of violence in Northern Ireland by shunning his hardline unionist past and negotiating with a former foe in pursuit of a goal they both shared: Peace.
That willingness to compromise was remembered Tuesday on both sides of the Atlantic as world leaders honored Trimble, who died Monday at the age of 77.
Trimble shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize with John Hume for their work in securing the Good Friday Agreement, which helped end three decades of bloodshed that killed more than 3,000 people on both sides of Northern Ireland’s sectarian conflict.
“Time after time during the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement, he made the hard choices over the politically expedient ones because he believed future generations deserved to grow up free from violence and hatred,” former U.S. President Bill Clinton said in a statement. “His faith in the democratic process allowed him to stand up to strong opposition in his own community, persuade them of the merits of compromise, and share power with his former adversaries.”
The agreement, negotiated with the help of Clinton’s Northern Ireland envoy, George Mitchell, created a power-sharing government that sought to bridge the divide between unionists, who support continued ties with the United Kingdom, and nationalists, who back reunification with the Republic of Ireland. It also forced both sides to accept previously unthinkable concessions such as reorganizing the pro-unionist police force and requiring the Irish Republican Army to give up its weapons.
Former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair said Trimble had the courage to make the deal, even though he knew he would be called a traitor by some members of his community.
“It wouldn’t have happened without him; it’s as simple as that, really,” Blair told the BBC. “What he gave, not just through the period of the negotiations … but then in the years afterwards, it was a master class in leadership.”
Born William David Trimble in Belfast on Oct. 15, 1944, he was educated at Queen’s University, Belfast, and pursued an academic career in law before entering politics in the early 1970s as a member of the hardline Vanguard Party. After moving to the Ulster Unionist Party, he became leader of what was then the largest unionist party in 1995.
Like most Protestant politicians at the time, Trimble initially opposed power-sharing with the largely Catholic republicans as something that would jeopardize Northern Ireland’s union with Britain. At first he refused to speak directly with Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA. But ultimately he relented and in 1997 became the first unionist leader to negotiate with Sinn Fein.
Formal peace talks began the next year, with Trimble and Hume signing the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998.