were attributed to these hostilities which came to be known as The Troubles. Serious political efforts to end the conflict began in the late 1980s and continued through the 1990s. Ceasefires were declared and later broken. The agreement came after very many years of complex talks, proposals, and compromises. Many people made major contributions. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern were leaders of the UK and the Republic of Ireland at the time. The talks were chaired by United States special envoy George J. Mitchell. Structure of agreement The agreement is made up of two inter-related documents, both agreed in Belfast on Good Friday, 10 April 1998: a multi-party agreement by most of Northern Ireland's political parties (the Multi-Party Agreement); an international agreement between the British and Irish governments (the BritishIrish Agreement). The agreement set out a complex series of provisions relating to a number of areas including: The status and system of government of Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. (Strand 1) The relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. (Strand 2) The relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. (Strand 3) Parties and structure of government The agreement was made between the British and Irish governments and eight political parties or groupings from Northern Ireland. Three were representative of unionism: the Ulster Unionist Party which had led unionism in Ulster since the beginning of the 20th century, and two smaller parties associated with Loyalist paramilitaries, the Progressive Unionist Party (linked with the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF)), and Ulster Democratic Party (the political wing of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA)). Two were broadly labelled nationalist: the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and Sinn Féin, the republican party associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Independent of these rival traditions, were two other Assembly parties, the cross-community Alliance Party and the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition. There was also the grouping Labour Coalition. US senator George J. Mitchell was sent by US president Bill Clinton to chair the talks. The agreement comprises two elements: a treaty between the two states, signed by the leaders of the two governments; and a more substantial agreement between the eight political parties and the two governments. The former text has just four articles; it is that short text that is the legal agreement, but it incorporates in its schedules the latter agreement. Technically, this scheduled agreement can be distinguished as the