Mitchell in France for UNESCO peace award

It must have been like waiting for Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists to agree. For well over two hours yesterday, through five speeches and two concerts, Senator George Mitchell sat waiting to receive the Felix HouphouetBoigny peace prize, UNESCO's highest award and at least the fifth peace prize honouring the US mediator for his role in the Northern Ireland agreement.

After travelling from Belfast, Mr Mitchell was handed a cheque for 800,000 francs (£96,038), a gold medal and a diploma signed by the outgoing director-general of UNESCO.

Mr Mitchell admitted that "the peace process in Northern Ireland is under great stress. The implementation of the Good Friday agreement is far from assured".

However, as far as the audience was concerned, the Northern Ireland story was over. The press statement issued by UNESCO might have ended "and they all lived happily ever after".

The other prizewinner, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Ms Sheikh Hasina, had a far bigger fan club. Ms Hasina negotiated an agreement granting autonomy to Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts, and each time she was mentioned dozens of Bangladeshis cheered and thumped on drums.

Before Mr Mitchell spoke, two African heads of state, two UNESCO officials and Dr Henry Kissinger all expatiated on the merits of peace and each other's goodness.

Mr Houphouet-Boigny, the late president of the Ivory Coast for whom the prize was named, was "the sage of Africa, this giant of history, a visionary, an apostle of peace".

No one mentioned that in his 30 years of absolute power, Mr Houphouet-Boigny held only one election and that he built a replica of St Peter's basilica in his home village of Yamoussokro.

Outside the UNESCO hall, French riot police faced Ivorians protesting against the dictatorship and corruption of his successor, President Henri Konan Bedie.

Dr Kissinger said his wife, Nancy, was of Irish extraction but then, sadly and with some lack of taste, reduced Northern Ireland's conflict to a joke. "She said never get involved in Irish questions. They are insoluble. The parties are too passionate and they won't tell you the truth of what they are really thinking."

He said Mr Mitchell had induced Northern leaders "to raise their sights from their quarrels and rejoin the community of nations".

After what he called a "tremendous" performance by a Senegalese singer, Mr Mitchell delivered a sincere, almost humble, address when accepting the prize "as a representative of the men and women of Northern Ireland who desperately want peace". Failure to implement the Belfast Agreement would be "an immense tragedy".