Joe Biden has been welcomed to Northern Ireland by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as the US president flew in for a brief visit to mark the 25th anniversary of a peace deal that largely ended 30 years of bloodshed.
Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage, will spend just over half a day in the British-run region on Tuesday before travelling to the Republic of Ireland for three days of meetings with officials and distant relatives.
Biden, who was met by Sunak on the runway at a windy Belfast International Airport, arrives at a delicate time in Northern Ireland and will need to tread carefully as the largest pro-British party continues to boycott the devolved power-sharing government, a key part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
The president spoke for a few minutes to officials on the tarmac, flanked by Joseph Kennedy III, of the storied Irish American political family, whom he appointed as the US special envoy to Northern Ireland for economic affairs in December.
Biden and Sunak will hold a meeting early on Wednesday, and Biden will also engage with each of the leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties ahead of his speech at a Belfast university.
Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One, Biden said supporting the recent Windsor Framework deal agreed by the European Union and Britain to ease post-Brexit trade barriers in Northern Ireland was one of his top priorities.
“Make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor Agreement stay in place. Keep the peace. That’s the main thing.” he said.
“Keep your fingers crossed.”
Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has said Biden’s visit – the first by a US president in 10 years – will not pressure it to end its protest at post-Brexit trade rules that treat the province differently to the rest of the United Kingdom.
Security concerns were also highlighted on Tuesday by the discovery of four pipe bombs, small improvised explosive devices, in Londonderry, a city 110 kilometres from where Biden is to stay. Police in a statement linked the devices to Irish nationalist rioters who attacked police there on Monday.
