NORWAY: NORTHERN IRISH POLITICIANS DAVID TRIMBLE AND JOHN HUME ARRIVE IN OSLO FOR NOBLE PEACE PRIZE CEREMONY

Record ID: 190100

  • Title: NORWAY: NORTHERN IRISH POLITICIANS DAVID TRIMBLE AND JOHN HUME ARRIVE IN OSLO FOR NOBLE PEACE PRIZE CEREMONY
  • Date: 9th December 1998
  • Summary: OSLO, NORWAY (DECEMBER 9, 1998) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF NORWEGIAN NOBEL INSTITUTE (4 SHOTS) 0.22 2. SV/PAN/ DAVID TRIMBLE AND JOHN HUME ARRIVING FOR PRESS CONFERENCE (3 SHOTS) 0.51 3. SV TWO MEN SHAKING HANDS PAN TO PHOTOGRAPHERS 1.01 4. SLV ALSO SEATED ON THE STAGE - DOCTOR FRANCIS SEJERSTAD (LEFT OF TRIMBLE) CHAIRMAN OF NOBEL COMMITTEE AND GEIR LUNDESTAD, SECRETARY OF NOBEL COMMITTEE 1.06 5. SV (SOUNDBITE) (English) DAVID TRIMBLE SAYING: "I know that this award is greatly appreciated by the people of Northern Ireland who see it as a mark of international recognition of the changes they are bringing about in the situation there and they are greatly encouraged by this award as indeed are we." 1.30 6. CU CUTAWAY JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES/WS PRESS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 1.38 7. SV (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHN HUME SAYING: "Obviously the award is a great international honour but it's more than that, it's a very powerful statement of the goodwill that the Nobel Institute has for our people and a powerful statement of support for peace on our street. That's how it should be read because that strengthens the peace process. The whole purpose, in my opinion, of the Nobel Institute for Peace is to encourage and develop peace right across the world. As regards to what we are going to do with the money which is what you are really asking ...I haven't even thought about it yet, but I will and knowing me as you do I'll spend it sensibly." 2.32 8. PAN PRESS CONFERENCE 2.39 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th December 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: OSLO, NORWAY
  • Country: Norway
  • Reuters ID: LVACIOFQMDFCS83ATE6J94TRNKHY
  • Story Text: Northern Ireland's rival communities will be
    symbolically united on Thursday when Protestant First Minister
    David Trimble and leading Catholic statesman John Hume receive
    the Nobel Peace Prize.

    In the splendour of Oslo City Hall, the long-time foes
    will be presented on Thursday (December 10) with the award for
    what the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in October was "their
    efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in
    Northern Ireland".

    The two peace brokers gave a press conference on Wednesday
    (December 9) Oslo's Nobel Institute when they spoke of the
    importance of the prize to Northern Ireland.

    First Minister David Trimble spoke of the appreciation
    felt by the people of Northern Ireland.And John Hume said
    that the award would strengthen the peace process.

    The awards are powerful recognition of the two men's
    risk-taking and leadership in striving to end a long nightmare
    of violence.

    But back home, the honeymoon is over for an agreement they
    helped broker.The hard-won peace process is bogged down in
    wrangling and acrimony.

    Pro-British and pro-Irish militias operate truces and
    hundreds of imprisoned extremists have been freed under the
    landmark agreement.But political momentum has slowed amid
    suspicion and squabbling.

    The Nobel Committee hopes its annual award, worth 7.6
    million crowns ($960,000 United States dollars), can spur
    progress among recipients.

    Previous winners include statesmen such as South Africa's
    Nelson Mandela and F.W.de Klerk and the Middle East's Yitzhak
    Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat.

    Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, leaders of a Northern
    Ireland peace movement that later ran out of steam, were
    awarded the prize in 1976.

    The Good Friday Agreement, signed by a range of figures
    that included Gerry Adams, head of the IRA's political arm,
    holds the promise of a settlement that both communities crave.

    But it is not being fully implemented because of rows
    between Protestant Unionists and Catholic Nationalists over
    its provisions for disarmament and new political structures.

    Conscious of their leadership roles, Hume and Trimble seek
    to maintain good relations and do not indulge in name-calling.

    But their parties squared up to each other after the
    collapse of what nationalists thought was a firm deal on the
    make-up of an Executive and all-Ireland cooperation
    committees.


  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register