23.04.2003

Northern Ireland: war and peace

Easter 1916: Nationalist uprising against British rule in Dublin. Many leaders executed including James Connolly, leader of the Irish Republican Socialist Party. Death sentence on Eamon De Valera, future president of Irish Republic, is commuted to life imprisonment. 1919-21: Three-year armed struggle against British rule ends in December 1921 with the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty and creation of Irish Free State. 1922-23: Civil war between Free State forces and Irish Republican Army over the treaty and division of Ireland through a six county statelet in the north-east. Northern Ireland remains an integral part of the United Kingdom. Its borders are based on a redrawn Ulster and includes a substantial, one-third, Irish-catholic minority. 1967-69: Inspired by the United States' civil rights movement, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association is founded. A series of marches are staged across the Northern Ireland statelet against the oppression of the catholic-Irish minority. In August 1969 British troops are sent to prop up Northern Ireland government. 1971: First British soldier killed by IRA in Belfast. The Northern Ireland government introduces internment without trial for suspected republicans. 1972: On January 30 (Bloody Sunday) British paratroopers shoot 13 civilians during civil-rights march in Derry. The Stormont government is suspended and the statelet is brought under Westminster administration. 1973: The Sunningdale Agreement sees the creation of power-sharing Council of Ireland, giving the Irish Republic a say in the governance of Northern Ireland. 1974: Opposition to involvement of the Irish Republic in Northern Ireland's affairs results in the Ulster Workers' Strike. The Consultative Assembly is brought down and direct Westminster rule reimposed. 1981-82: Ten republican prisoners die on hunger strike in Maze Prison. Hunger striker Bobby Sands is elected to the UK parliament 1997: IRA declares a ceasefire. Talks begin in Belfast between government of Irish Republic, Britain's Labour government and representatives of all Northern Ireland's political parties, including Sinn Fein. 1998: Initial peace-plan accepted by all parties.