Principles for Ending a Conflict

Senators Tom Daschle and Trent Lott welcome George Mitchell.

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Introduction
Address

Principles for Ending a Conflict

I mentioned Northern Ireland earlier, and I would like to return there now for a few brief comments.

The demise of the Soviet Union freed many people who had been caught in the grip of communism. But it also released ethnic tensions, tribal and national passions which had long been suppressed. In the twenty-first century, the United States increasingly will be called upon to intervene in conflicts generated by such passions. As the leaders of our Nation, you will be required to make very difficult decisions.

You will have to define and redefine and weigh the national interest, our security needs, humanitarian needs, and other variable and shifting factors. In the past few months, I have often been asked, including by some of you, what, if any, lessons Northern Ireland holds for other conflicts.

We must be cautious in trying to draw lessons from any one conflict. Each human being is unique, as is each society. It follows logically, then, that no two conflicts are the same. Much as we would like it, there is no magic formula which, once discovered, can be used to end all conflicts.

But there are certain principles in which I believe and which were validated by my experience in Northern Ireland.

First, I believe there is no such thing as a conflict that can’t be ended. Conflicts are created and sustained by human beings. They can be ended by human beings. No matter how ancient the conflict, no matter how much harm has been done, peace can prevail.

When I arrived in Northern Ireland, I found, to my dismay, widespread pessimism among the public and the political leaders. It is a small, well-informed society where I quickly became known, and every day on the street, in a hotel, in a restaurant, at the airport, people would stop me and come up and speak to me. They always began with compliments : "Thank you, Senator." "God bless you." "We appreciate what you are trying to do." And they always ended with despair : "You’re wasting your time." "This conflict can’t be ended." "We’ve been killing each other forever, and we’re doomed to go on killing each other forever."

As best I could, I worked to reverse that attitude. That is the special responsibility of political leaders, from whom many in the public take their cue. Every time one of you appears on national television, millions of Americans make a decision on issues because they respect you. Leaders must lead, and one way is to create an attitude of success, the belief that problems can be solved, the conviction that things can be better ; not in a foolish or unrealistic way but in a way that creates hope and confidence among the people.

A second need in conflicts is a clear and determined policy not to yield to violence. Over and over the men of violence tried to destroy the peace process in Northern Ireland. At times they nearly succeeded. At every critical moment there were murders and bombings whose purpose was to end the peace process.

Last July, three young Catholic boys were burned to death as they slept in their beds. In August, a devastating bomb in Omagh killed twenty-nine people and injured three hundred, Protestant and Catholic alike. These were acts of appalling ignorance and hatred. They must be totally condemned. But to have succumbed to the temptation to retaliate would have given the criminals what they want : escalating sectarian violence and the end of the peace process. The way to respond to such atrocities there, and elsewhere, is to swiftly bring those who committed crimes to justice and move forward in peace.

Seeking an end to conflict is not for the timid or the tentative. It takes courage, perseverance and steady nerves in the face of awful violence. I believe it is a mistake to say in advance that if enough acts of violence occur, negotiations for the peace process will stop. That transfers control of the agenda from the peaceful majority to the violent minority.

A third need is a willingness to compromise. Peace and political stability cannot be achieved in sharply divided societies unless there is a genuine willingness to understand the other point of view and to enter into principled compromise. That is easy to say, but very hard to do, because it requires of political leaders that they take risks for peace. To ask leaders to be bold in the most difficult and dangerous of services, when their lives and the lives of their families are at risk, is asking much.

But it must be asked, and they must respond, if there is to be hope for peace. I know it can be done. I saw it firsthand in Northern Ireland. Men and women, some of whom had never met, had never before spoken, who had lived their entire political lives in conflict, came together in an agreement for peace. If it happened there, it can happen anywhere.

There is a final point that, to me, is so important. It extends beyond conflict, and it includes our country. I recall very clearly my first day in Northern Ireland more than four years ago. I saw for the first time the huge wall which physically separates the communities. Thirty feet high, topped in places with barbed wire, it is an ugly reminder of the intensity and duration of that conflict. Ironically, it is called the Peace Line.

On that first morning, I met with Catholics on their side of the wall, in the afternoon with Protestants on their side. Their messages were the same : In Belfast, they told me there is a high correlation between unemployment and violence. They said that where men and women have no opportunity or hope, they are more likely to take the path of violence.

As I sat and listened to them, I thought I could just as easily be in Chicago or in Calcutta or in the Middle East. Despair is the fuel for instability and conflict everywhere. Hope is essential to peace and political stability. Men and women need income to support their families ; and even more important, they need the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile and meaningful with their lives. That is true everywhere, including in our own society. All across this country, from urban ghettos to left-behind rural areas, millions of our fellow citizens do not share in our remarkable prosperity ; worse, they have no prospect of doing so.

The conflict in Northern Ireland is not exclusively or even primarily economic. It involves religion and national identity, but there is an economic factor. The significance of the Good Friday agreement is that it creates the possibility that economic prosperity will flow from and contribute to lasting peace.

When the agreement was reached at about six o’clock in the evening on Good Friday, we had been in negotiations for nearly two years and continuously for two days. We were exhausted but elated. In my parting comments, I told the delegates that for me the agreement was the realization of a dream that had sustained me for three and a half of the most difficult years of my life.

Now, I told them, I have a new dream. My new dream is that I will return to Northern Ireland in a few years with my young son. We will roam the countryside, taking in the sights and sounds of a very beautiful country, basking in the warmth of a generous and hearty people. Then, on a rainy afternoon, we will drive to the capital and sit quietly in the visitors gallery of the new Northern Ireland Assembly, created as a result of this agreement.

There we will watch and listen as the members of the assembly debate the ordinary issues of life in a democratic society : education, health care, tourism, agriculture. There will be no talk of war, for the war will have long been over. There will be no talk of peace, for peace will be taken for granted. On that day, the day on which peace is taken for granted in Northern Ireland, I will be truly fulfilled and peace-loving people everywhere will rejoice.

Sen. George J. Mitchell
June 16, 1999

In memoriam : Paul Wellstone (1944-2002)

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