Martin McGuinness, a former Irish Republican Army commander
and deputy first minister of Northern Ireland who was a key figure throughout
five decades of conflict and peace, has died aged 66, his party, Sinn Fein,
said on Tuesday.
McGuinness, whose journey from street fighter to peacemaker
began in the 1970s during Northern Ireland’s “Troubles”, had bowed out of
politics several months earlier than planned in January due to an undisclosed
illness.
“Throughout his life Martin showed great determination,
dignity and humility, and it was no different during his short illness,” Sinn
Fein President Gerry Adams said in a statement.
“He was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for
peace and reconciliation and for the re-unification of his country. But above
all he loved his family and the people of Derry and he was immensely proud of
both.”
McGuinness abandoned a butcher’s apprenticeship in 1970 to
join the Irish Republican Army in a bloody campaign to end British rule in
Northern Ireland. He played a key role in both the start and the end of the
province’s 30-year sectarian conflict, in which some 3,600 people were killed.
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