(London) Moderate voice in immoderate times, John Hume, a Catholic who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in reconciliation in Northern Ireland, died Monday in 83 years.
Tributes have multiplied to salute the memory of this former teacher, praised for having contributed to the end of the "Troubles" in the British province thanks to his capacity for dialogue, including with the nationalists of Sinn Fein , sometimes at the cost of criticism in his own camp.
"John died in the early hours of a short illness," his family said in a statement.
The former Catholic nationalist leader was awarded the Nobel in 1983 with the Protestant leader of the Unionist Party of Ulster , David Trimble, in recognition of "their efforts to find a peaceful solution" to three decades of unrest which left more than 3500 dead.
A few months earlier, in April 1998, a peace agreement, known as Good Friday, had been concluded in Belfast between London , Dublin and the Protestant and Catholic parties.
"As an elected official, it was my duty to do everything possible to bring peace to our streets," he said when he received the Nobel. "One resolute and straightforward way to do this was to engage in direct dialogue with the organizations involved in the violence."
Current Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hailed "a political giant [...] totally opposed to violence". Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin paid tribute to "a great hero and a true peacemaker".
"During our darkest days he recognized that violence was not the way forward," said Northern Irish Prime Minister Arlene Foster, Unionist.
"John Hume has dedicated his life to promoting tolerance, civil rights and social justice", reacted the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
Dialogue capacity
Born on 18 January 1937 in Londonderry, John Hume taught, took his first political steps and spent the last months of his life in this town on the Irish border, where the Troubles began in 1968 and where took place January 1969 the violence of "Bloody Sunday", when the British army killed 13 pacifist demonstrators.
His funeral will be celebrated there Wednesday morning at Saint-Eugène Cathedral, with a limited audience due to restrictions linked to the novel coronavirus pandemic. His family has promised a wider tribute later, when sanitary conditions permit.
He initially intended to become a priest but after a stint through the seminary he changed his mind and graduated in history and French, which he spoke fluently.
Returning to Londonderry to teach, he began to engage in politics. It is in this city that the organization of civil rights marches, harshly suppressed by the British police, marks in 1937 the start of the bloody period of the Troubles.
Elected independent to the Parliament of the British province in 1969, he was one of the founders of the Nationalist Party the following year Social Democrat (SDLP), before becoming a 1983 Member of the British Parliament.
This father of five children has contributed for years to bring the North Irish conflict on the international stage, notably involving Bill Clinton, who on Monday hailed the "unshakeable commitment" of a man who "continued to walk against all odds "to obtain peace.
Locally, this moderate figure engaged in dialogue with the nationalists of Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, and its leader Gerry Adams, laying the foundations for the peace accords.
The latter paid tribute to the man who "had the courage to take real risks for peace", in particular by negotiating with him at a time when "the political and media establishment was determined to marginalize and demonize Sinn Fein ".
