Northern Ireland and Iraq

Today heralds a new dawn for Northern Ireland, with the inauguration of an historic power-sharing government. It is hoped the move will finally bring peace, prosperity and stability to this once troubled province.

The 108-seat Northern Ireland Assembly is to be revived after four-and-a-half years during which the peace process stalled.

Democratic Unionist Party leader Dr Ian Paisley will be sworn in as Northern Ireland's First Minister at Stormont, while Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness will be his First Deputy - a relationship which would have been unthinkable in the recent past.

Like Iraq today, Northern Ireland was riven by religion-based factions, with vicious terrorism horrifying the world. Let us hope it doesn't take as long for Iraq to reconcile.