David Trimble, one of the main architects of the Good Friday peace treaty, died in Belfast on Monday July 25 at the age of 77. This eminent representative of the loyalist community in Northern Ireland, premier of the province between 1998 and 2002, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 – along with the Catholic John Hume – for his contribution to the return of peace in a province torn apart by a thirty-year war (dubbed the “Troubles”) between Protestants, Unionists and Loyalists, loyal to the province’s membership in the United Kingdom, and Catholics, mostly nationalists, in favor of the reunification of Ireland.
Beyond his shyness and his rather rough character, it is his courage that has been underlined by the many tributes paid to this convinced Unionist, born in Belfast on October 15, 1944. Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) between 1995 and 2005, David Trimble had succeeded in convincing the members of this political formation, at the time the most powerful of the loyalist/unionist camp, to sign the agreement of Good Friday, in 1998.
Lord Trimble’s contribution to peace is ” immense “, estimated Tony Blair on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday July 26. “He reached a peace treaty acceptable to the Unionists. It was a tour de force and a great lesson in leadership. He knew perfectly well that he would be accused of treachery for this and he paid [son engagement pour la paix] at a high price, testified the former Labor Prime Minister, who led the peace treaty negotiations on behalf of the United Kingdom.
“A visionary man”
Doug Beattie, the current leader of the UUP, hailed a “political giant”. David Trimble was “a courageous and visionary man. He seized the opportunity to negotiate peace and end the decades of violence that have bereaved his beloved Northern Ireland.. In the early 2000s, part of the loyalist camp did not forgive him for having accepted a compromise with a hated and feared community, and made him pay for it at the ballot box.
The UUP collapsed in the 2005 general election – Mr Trimble lost his MP seat in Westminster. It was the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a more radical formation (one of the rare non-signatories of the Good Friday peace treaty), which became the first unionist force in the province. Symmetrically, on the left, the Catholic and moderate Social Democratic Labor Party (SDLP), chaired by John Hume, lost its pre-eminence after the signing of the peace treaty in favor of Sinn Fein, the pro-reunification party, considered the political branch of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) paramilitaries during the Troubles.
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