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Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton meets Friday with Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson, right, and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, left, at Stormont Castle in Belfast on Friday.
Updated at 10:25 a.m. ET: BELFAST — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Friday condemned a wave of street violence in Northern Ireland, saying it showed the peace process she has long supported in the British province was not yet complete.
Making one of her last foreign trips in her current job, she visited a province transformed by the 1998 peace agreement that her husband Bill Clinton helped bring about in what was regarded as one of the greatest successes of his presidency.
But Northern Ireland remains riven by sectarian tensions and Clinton arrived in a week that has seen three riots, the seizure of a bomb over 62 miles outside Belfast, and the arrest of four militant nationalists.
The latest riot erupted Thursday night when a policeman was injured after protesters hurled missiles to vent their anger against nationalist councilors who voted to remove the British flag atop Belfast City Hall.
'It pains me': Clinton decries plight of women in male-dominated countries
Police said Friday that four men were arrested after a "viable bomb" was recovered from a car in a nationalist area of Derry overnight. A letter bomb was also found in a County Down postbox with the capacity "to kill or cause serious injury."
"It has been a sad reminder unfortunately that despite how hardy the peace has been, there are still those who not only would test it but try to destroy it," Clinton said.
"I really commend the leaders and citizens who have condemned the violence— and I join them in condemning it — to remind us all that peace comes through dialogue and debate, not violence," she added.
Important for 2016?
However, Clinton's visit, during which politicians from both sides of the political divide briefed her on the peace process, was a reminder of the huge popularity of her family in Ireland, a potential asset in attracting the Irish-American vote if Clinton decided to run for the U.S. presidency in 2016.
The province has suffered one of the world's worst property market crashes and its leaders are hoping for the kind of U.S. foreign investment that has transformed the rest of Ireland.
"Our need is more economic now than political," said Reg Empey, Chairman of the Ulster Unionist Party, who was a senior figure in the peace process.
Cops hurt as British unionist protesters try to storm Belfast City Hall in flag spat
"But we also have to be aware that there is still a degree of volatility ... and in those circumstances I think we should make sure we keep the relationship going," he said.
Peace process
Hillary Clinton traveled to Northern Ireland several times in the mid-1990s while her husband helped broker the 1998 Good Friday peace accord. His hands-on approach was widely recognized as crucial at moments when the agreement looked like crumbling.
Bill Clinton's work helped win over the Irish vote during his re-election campaign in 1996 and his popularity among Irish-Americans could rub off on his wife if she needed it.
Clinton on Thursday told journalists in Dublin she was "too focused on what I'm doing" to think about a run for the presidency and declined to comment on U.S. newspaper reports that her husband may be appointed as Washington's next ambassador to the Republic of Ireland.
Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com
Personal ties
As first lady, Clinton lent support to pro-peace women's groups in Northern Ireland and visited people wounded in the 1998 Omagh bombing, the deadliest attack in three decades of violence commonly known as the "Troubles."
At least 3,600 people were killed during that time as Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British security forces and mainly Protestant Loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.
"The lessons learned here in Ireland about how to build peace could be of great use to other peoples and nations," Clinton said Thursday in a speech in Dublin in which she recalled a meeting between Catholic and Protestant women in Belfast in the 1990s.
"There are so many more ties that bind us than divide us, and that is what has motivated me over many years now," she said.
NBC News' Catherine Chomiak and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
She can stay there.
"O'Clinton in 016?"
Could happen.
Well, she became a New Yorker for her Senate seat, she may as well try to wear the green for more votes! Wonder if she has a Latino cousin or BFF somewhere? How handy!
No real important information here about what is really going on there and just basically a campaign speech for 2016.
Go ahead and try to figure out why she is there and what the irish are rioting for...in this article.
THIS IS JUST A CAMPAIGN SPEECH for 2016 ...for president. Warships are arriving for North Korea's missle launch and no secretary of state talking to anyone about it...just send warships. Hilary is a moronic fool and tool period.
Hilary is pathetic...she did a great job in Egypt and Syria huh? Everyone wants peace... except the people controlling the money.
GET THE IRISH VOTE OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! four years before you run.
The states with large Irish populations are all fanatically leftist in their political leanings. So I don't think she has to pander to Irish-Americans - besides, I don't think there's that much identification with the homeland anymore anyways. I think she's probably doing this because she's actually proud of what her husband accomplished.
Transparency at its best!
I can't believe people would be skeptical of Mrs. Clinton's motives.
He said while laughing his ass off!!
These people that Hillary "Campaigned" with are British camping in Ireland, They want financial help from the US, but they are attached to England and their support comes from there. By the way the people who threw the missles were "locals" rioting in their own area and injuring police. The Irish=Americans who support Clinton are the same ones who support British invasion into Ireland. It is a facade that does not represent, support, or affect the majority of Ireland.
You got that right - nobody wants to name the pink Elephant in the room. Hillary worried about women when the issue is something completely different. Give me a break!
Oh my goodness. Listen to the out and out meanness in this forum today. Perhaps we should focus some attention on serious issue that Secretary Clinton is trying to get attention for: the plight of women in too many countries in the world. The mentality of men in countries like Egypt is barbaric. For a woman to be afraid to go to the market because gangs of men are roaming the street looking for women to molest in the name of some protest cause is nothing less than unrestrained animalistic brutality.
It is not meanness... it is people sick and tired of the SECRETARY OF STATE out on some campaign for women and not doing her god damn job.
Her job is SECRETARY OF STATE. NOT WORLD PEACE KEEPER.
Shosyn..................if you were to 'look-up' the duties of the Secretary of State, as defined in the United States Constitution, she (Hillary) IS doing her job of International Affairs as appointed by the President.
Yes... and where is the outrage from women's groups? Silence is deafening...
What a tool you are for thinking you can persuade me not to think Hilary (the lesbian) is over there because she is irish and cares...ABOUT AMERICA.
'It pains me': Clinton decries plight of women in male-dominated countries
Clinton needs to understand this is a Male world, you need a dick to get anywhere...lol
Hillary 'revisits her family legacy...'
In other words: her astranged, Scottish husband's efforts during the 1990s. Has nothing to do with the Rodham family at all..
Her popularity amongst Irish-Americans? That's an insult to Irish-Americans.
Nothing more righteous than showing up for the express purpose of popularity and vote seeking. Everything with these libs has a political bent. it just can't be for the purpose of doing their job and being a good world citizen. Nope...gotta be political. Which means she would use these people for toilet paper if they didn't serve a real purpose.
Go to Belfast or Glasgow and see what British occupancy has does for the people....NOTHING! Both areas look like a "war zone". Alternatively the republic of Ireland is a wonderful country made up of hard working folk that are barely surviving in an economy that makes our own look like a gold rush. Unemployment for those 25 and under is near 50%....what do they have to look forward too?? Time for the Republic of Ireland to take back its god given territory and reclaim is Sovereignty.
I'm of Irish descent(if my name doesn't give it away) and I couldn't care less about the Clinton's. Hillary sold out to Obama in 2008 and I lost all respect for her. As for Northern Ireland, this strife has been going on since the late 1600's(William of Orange) and that's why my ancestors left Ireland.
Riot torn northern Ireland..What??? Detroit or Newark, NJ look much worse............its all about the United States propaganda machine.
As an actual Irish person, I can confirm that both Clinton's are genuinely loved here in a way no other public figure has been since JFK.
Took a 'whirl-wind' trip around Ireland recently and it is a WONDERFUL place!!! Wonderful people!!! Not 'riot torn' as indicated with this MSN headline. Felt much safer there, including northern Ireland, than in any major northeast city in America.
Well, that explains her/their stupidity, it's their "Heritage", where they'er from!!!! That stupid ugly bitch, needs to shut front door up!!! Go suck "O"s little smoky some more!!!!
Gotta wonder how stupid she makes us look to the rest of the world, quite stupid by the worlds remarks about her.
I think that B** Clinton has traveled the globe enough. Time for her to rot in hell where she belongs, instead of sticking her nose everywhere that it does not belong. That goes for America itself...
When all is said and done, it will be clear that the actions and incompetence of our President, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have contributed significantly to making the world a much more unstable and dangerous place.
We're living those historical mis-steps today that others will read about and study in the future.
Ironic, particularly after Obama's receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.