Good Friday Agreement

From Conservapedia

The Good Friday Agreement was a peace agreement signed in 1998 with respect to the long-running conflict in Northern Ireland. A 65-page document, was welcomed by the Ulster Unionist Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) (a socialistic nationalist party loosely tied to the British Labour Party) and the Sinn Fein (an Irish nationalist party), and overwhelmingly ratified by voters: 71.2% of people in Northern Ireland and 94.39% in the Republic of Ireland voted "yes" in accepting the Agreement.

There were many points in the Agreement, the most important being demilitarizing Northern Ireland and placing it on a path to democratic rule. An Assembly was soon elected in which Ulster Unionists won the most seats (28), the SDLP won 24 seats, and the Sinn Fein won 18 seats. Paramilitary prisoners were released.

Both sides accused the other side of failing to live up to the agreement, but no one wants to renegotiate or repudiate it. Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that the agreement "is the only show in town".