Martin McGuinness for historic Ypres WW1 centenary visit

Northern Irish Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is to travel to Belgium on Saturday on a historic official visit to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the first World War.

It is expected the Sinn Féin MLA and the DUP's Jeffrey Donaldson will attend a ceremony at the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Flanders on Saturday, and visit a number of commemorative sites in the Ypres area.

A concert in St Nicholas’s Church is also planned on Saturday afternoon.

The Waterford Omagh Peace choir, a cross-Border choir formed in 2006, is travelling to Flanders for the event.

The visit, being organised in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Executive office in Brussels, comes at a sensitive time in the Northern powersharing talks.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and British prime minister David Cameron travel to Northern Ireland on Thursday for two days of talks aimed at securing a deal.

First Minister Peter Robinson said earlier this week that the end of this week should be seen as a deadline for the conclusion of the latest round of powersharing talks.

It is understood the Irish Government is very supportive of the planned visit, and Ireland's Ambassador to Belgium, Eamonn Mac Aodha, is expected to participate in the events.

Complex relationship

The republican movement has a complex relationship with the legacy of the first World War.

About 200,000 Irish soldiers are estimated to have served in the war, which coincided with a burgeoning of Irish republicanism culminating with the Easter Rising in 1916.

The Island of Ireland Peace Park commemorates the involvement of soldiers from across the Irish political spectrum in the war.

In particular it honours the soldiers of the 16th Irish Division and the 36th Ulster Division, who fought side by side in the Battle of Messines in May 1917.

The commemorative park was opened by President Mary McAleese and Queen Elizabeth in 1998.

A round tower commemorates the thousands of men from all parts of Ireland who died in the war.

The visit coincides with a programme of commemorative events that is planned to mark the centenary of the Christmas Truce - an unofficial truce between German and British soldiers in December 1914 during which soldiers from both sides of the conflict met on no man’s land to play a game of football.

Centenary events have been taking place throughout Europe this year to mark the hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of war.