Sunak urges Northern Ireland to restart power-sharing administration

April 10 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called on politicians in Northern Ireland on Monday to honor the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement by re-starting the country's stalled power-sharing government as soon as possible.

Acknowledging it would not be easy, Sunak urged local leaders to resume the process -- created by the 1998 peace agreement -- in which power is shared 50-50 between nationalists who want reunification with the Republic of Ireland and unionists who want Northern Ireland to remain part of Britain.

"We commemorate those who are no longer with us and the many who lost their lives by trying to prevent violence and protect the innocent," said Sunak. "And we give thanks to them as we reflect on the new generations that have grown up and continue to grow in a world in which peace and prosperity has prevailed.

"We stand ready to work with our partners in the Irish government and the local parties to ensure that the institutions are up and running again as soon as possible. There is work to be done."

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar pledged to work with Sunak intensely on the issue and the Windsor Framework compromise on the Northern Ireland Protocol which is behind the Democratic Unionist Party's boycott of the Stormont Assembly.

But Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton Harris played down expectations saying being able to set a date for when power-sharing would resume was akin to finding a "four-leaf clover."

"No one knows when it will go back. Deadlines are deadly in Northern Ireland terms," he said.

Any breakthrough is unlikely to come in time for the arrival Tuesday of U.S. President Joe Biden to celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement in 1998 that brought an end to the three-decade-long troubles that claimed the lives of more than 3,500.

Sunak will be there to welcome Biden but the stalemate means the president will not meet with local leaders with a truncated itinerary that runs less than 24 hours before he heads south to the Republic of Ireland. Biden will deliver a speech at Belfast's Ulster University and meet with civic and business leaders.

Security forces were on high alert after warning Friday that dissident republican paramilitaries were planning attacks aimed at disrupting events marking the anniversary and stirring up unrest. MI5 raised the terrorism threat level in Northern Ireland to "severe" two weeks ago, meaning a terrorist attack was "highly likely."

The Police Service of Northern Ireland was faced with a violent attack from what The Irish Times described as young dissident republicans, who threw petrol bombs and other projectiles during a parade in Derry.

The parade of dissidents were met with an armored police vehicle which quickly became engulfed in flames as the group hurled molotov cocktails at it. No injuries were reported.

"We would appeal for calm," a spokesperson for the police said, reported by The Guardian.

The Stormont assembly has not sat since February 2022 after the DUP refused to continue to participate in a row over post-Brexit trading arrangements in the so-called Northern Ireland Protocol that they argue treats Northern Ireland differently than England, Wales, and Scotland.