Secretary Kofi Annan, John Hume and the Tip O'Neill Chair

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UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that the Northern Ireland peace process was a source of inspiration to the rest of the world. Mr Annan, delivering the Tip O’Neill lecture at the University of Ulster’s Magee Campus in Derry, said the people of the North were managing their problems better than in the past.

He praised the people of Northern Ireland's efforts to create a better world for their children and that they have been a source of inspiration and hope to people in many other countries.

The subject of Mr Annan’s lecture was how outsiders could best contribute to the process of building peace in war-torn societies. He said the role of the UN had changed over the years from just keeping the peace to engaging in conflict resolution, tackling the root causes of violence.

The holder of the Tip O’Neill Chair in Peace Studies at the University of Ulster’s Magee College is Nobel Peace Laureate Professor John Hume, whose appointment was announced at a ceremony in Washington in March 2002. Bill Clinton made a special visit to the University of Ulster in July last year to inaugurate John Hume’s tenure of the Chair. On accepting the Chair, John Hume said that part of his work would be to bring some of the most highly regarded peacemakers in the world to Northern Ireland.

The Tip O’Neill Lecture has in the past been presented by distinguished figures such as Senator Edward Kennedy; President of the European Commission Romano Prodi; Michel Rocard, former Prime Minister of France; Bertie Ahern as President of European Council of Ministers; and Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament.

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