Clinton hails Enniskillen victims

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has been visiting Northern Ireland

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (CNN) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has visited to the scene of the 1987 IRA Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen, as he continued his two-day trip to Northern Ireland.

Eleven people were killed in the blast in County Fermanagh.

Accompanied by his daughter Chelsea, Clinton met survivors of the attack and unveiled a stained glass window at a peace centre dedicated to him.

The William Jefferson Clinton Peace Centre in Enniskillen is in honour of his work towards a political settlement in Northern Ireland.

Afterwards he addressed a cheering crowd of more than 1,000 people, paying tribute to those who suffered amid the explosion.

He went on to urge Northern Ireland to continue with its peace efforts, saying there was now more peace, prosperity and harmony than he had experienced on his previous visits.

"I ask you to take pride in the long, hard road this wonderful country has travelled since the dark day that the bomb exploded in Enniskillen.

"I ask you to stiffen your resolve to work through difficulties and frustrations that remain, to keep going on the path of peace," Clinton said.

He compared the situation in Northern Ireland with that in the Middle East, and warned against throwing the peace process away.

Pointing to that conflict he said: "Hundreds have died, thousands have been wounded, people have lost their hope for a peaceful and united future because they walked away from an agreement that was imperfect."

Clinton explained that the consequences of walking away "robbed children of the right to build their own dreams and futures," adding they were "trapped in their parents' and grandparents' yesterdays."

People should take pride in their differences, he said.

However, the former president insisted: "We should celebrate them, but I have lived long enough now to know that the only way you can celebrate your differences and have the self-confidence to do it and let other people celebrate theirs, is to know that our common humanity is even more important."

Earlier, Clinton visited Omagh, in County Tyrone, to meet victims and relatives of those killed in a bomb attack carried out by the Real IRA in August 1998, which killed 29 people.