Clinton gives peace address to audience in Derry

Former US President Bill Clinton has called on the people of Northern Ireland to continue to cast their vote for peace.

Mr Clinton made his speech during a visit to Londonderry to inaugurate former SDLP leader John Hume in his tenure of the Tip O'Neill Chair in Peace Studies at the University of Ulster. Addressing an audience on Sunday in the Great Hall of the university's Magee campus, Mr Clinton called upon all those involved in the peace process to "stay the course" and set the world an example of how conflicts could successfully be resolved.

"When the Middle East peace fell apart, when the future was uncertain in Bosnia, when Africa was still reeling from losing 10% of the people in the entire country of Rwanda and two million died in the Congo, I could always point to the Good Friday Accord," he said.

The former President went on to pay tribute to Mr Hume's involvement in the Good Friday Agreement, who in turn praised Mr Clinton's "passion for peace and justice in Ireland".

Mr Hume, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998, stepped down as leader of the SDLP Party in 2001. He remains an MP and an MEP, and takes up the tenure of the Tip O'Neill Chair, is awarded for a period each year to a person who has demonstrated continued contribution to the process of peace and reconciliation.

Mr Clinton inaugurated the Chair on his first visit to Northern Ireland in 1995, in memory of Thomas 'Tip' O'Neill, who was elected as Speaker in the US House of Representatives in 1977.