20 years on, Northern Ireland marks peace deal

Then-Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, former US Senator George Mitchell and ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair celebrate after finalizing the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998. The pact followed lengthy negotiations and largely put an end to decades of sectarian violence, known as "the troubles," in which more than 3,000 people died.

The agreement between Britain, Ireland and the main Northern Ireland political parties, backed by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), led to a Protestant-Catholic power-sharing government in the north. In the years that followed the Good Friday Agreement, the IRA destroyed its stockpile of weapons and the British military dismantled its bases in Northern Ireland.

Two Belfast locals read a copy of the agreement the day after it was announced. A mural in the background reads: "Prepared for peace, ready for war." Two decades on, some divisions have resurfaced.

Northern Ireland's power-sharing government collapsed at the start of 2017 over disagreements between the nationalist Sinn Fein and the loyalist Democratic Unionist Party. Former US President Bill Clinton, who was due to attend at a commemorative event in Belfast on Tuesday, urged politicians to end the "paralysis." Britain's decision to leave the EU has also complicated the situation.

Former US Senator George Mitchell, who served as the chairman of the peace negotiations, is also taking part in anniversary events with Clinton, Blair, Ahern and others.

The leaders of the Good Friday peace talks — Ahern, Blair, Clinton and Mitchell — commemorated the 20th anniversary of the peace accord in Belfast on Tuesday. "Northern Ireland today is unrecognizable to the Northern Ireland of two decades ago," Mitchell said, but stressed that it will take "courageous political leadership" to meet new challenges, a likely reference to Brexit.