(2 Sep 1998) English/Nat
A huge security operation is underway in Northern Ireland on the eve of a visit by U-S president Bill Clinton.
The President's wife is already in Belfast.
And Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams was among those present when First Lady Hillary Clinton arrived to make a speech in Belfast.
There was intense security at the Europa Hotel in Belfast on Wednesday as the tourist centre was transformed into Bill Clinton's headquarters for his visit to Northern Ireland.
Officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary were on a heightened state of alert after a bomb scare shortly before the arrival of First Lady Hillary Clinton.
Gerry Adams, leader of the I-R-A-allied Sinn Fein party, was one of those who turned out at Belfast's Waterfront Hall to hear her address the crowds.
On Tuesday, Adams gave the peace process a boost by publicly renouncing violence.
A day later, he remained insistent that Sinn Fein would respect the terms of the Good Friday agreement.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Well, let's be clear about this and keep to your own on this issue. But I've made it clear, Sinn Fein is wedded to a peace strategy and wedded to the commitments we made alongside all the other parties in the Good Friday agreement and all of the commitments, all of the clauses, both in the spirit and the letter of that agreement have to be implemented and let's now speedily move towards what I think the vast majority of people want to see: the Republicans now trying to build confidence and the Unionists doing the same thing, that we all move into the executive and we move beyond the executive into the all-Ireland bodies and get the structures up and start building democracy."
SUPER CAPTION: Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein leader
But not all Northern Ireland's political leaders welcomed Clinton's visit.
Ian Paisley, leader of the hard-line Democratic Unionist Party, said the U-S president has shown he was not to be trusted.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I detest a man in his situation who is prepared to use the deaths of innocent victims on both sides of the religious and political divide to try and save his own bacon and I don't think Mr Clinton should be here at all and I don't draw a distinction between a man's moral life in office and a man's moral life in private. A man is man and if he's a rogue and a liar and perjurer and an adulterer in private he'll be the same in public."
SUPER CAPTION: Ian Paisley, Democratic Unionist Party leader
Also on Wednesday, Britain's governor for Northern Ireland paroled two British soldiers convicted of murdering a Catholic teenager.
They are the first inmates freed from a Northern Ireland prison in response to the peace accord.
Relatives of Peter McBride - shot while running away from soldiers, who falsely claimed he was about to throw a homemade grenade - responded with fury.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Well, a release at this time because of President Clinton's visit to bury the controversy and not realise that Friday is Peter's anniversary - we reminded them no later than last week of that - and again it's complete disregard for our family's feelings."
SUPER CAPTION: Billy McBride, victim's uncle
Sinn Fein and the I-R-A may now have pledged unconditional support for the peace process, but a minority of dissidents still oppose it.
Police are on a heightened state of alert in case any group decided to mount a last ditch attempt to disrupt the presidential visit.
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