David Trimble, architect of peace in Northern Ireland, dies

Former Chief Minister of Northern Ireland David Trimbleawarded the prize Peace Nobel in 1998 for his contribution to the Good Friday Agreement who brought peace to Northern Ireland, He died on Monday at the age of 77.

His family announced in a statement that Trimble, who led the Ulster Unionist Party from 1995 to 2005, died “peacefully after a short illness.”

Trimble’s death comes almost two years after that of the other great architect of peace in Northern Ireland, the former leader of the Northern Ireland Social Democratic and Labor Party (SDLP) John Hume, who also received the Nobel along with his adversary political.

Trimble was the first person to serve as chief minister in the British province and since 2006, after losing his seat in the (Lower) House of Commons, he was a member of the (Upper) House of Lords.

His life trajectory led him to go from integrating the hard wing of unionism in the 1970s to push unionism into a pact that brought peace to Ulster after decades of violence and helped create the power-sharing Executive and the Stormont Assembly.

His temperamental character and his political tightrope walk earned him much criticism from the unionist ranks themselves but they also made him a pragmatic politician with the ability to reach agreements.

Within unionism, many did not forgive Trimble for allowing the sinn fein, political arm of the IRA, normalize despite the fact that the terrorist organization had not even handed over its weapons.

Current UUP leader Doug Beattie posted a recent photo with Trimble on his Twitter account and wrote the caption: “A political giant, a courageous politician, a staunch unionist and a friend.”

Former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, for his part, considered that history will remember Trimble as someone who “in a very difficult moment, when we were trying to end 30 years of violence, stood firm and put his name in the peace agreement “.