Londonderry: Former Irish Republican Army commander turned peace negotiator Martin McGuinness was buried on Thursday, his supporters giving him the funeral of an Irish chieftain.

McGuinness, who resigned as Northern Ireland’s deputy first minister in January, died on Tuesday aged 66.

The Irish flag of green, white and orange — a traditional symbol of the aspiration for an Irish Republic and an act of defiance against British rule — adorned his coffin as it was carried out of his home in his native Derry in Northern Ireland.

The flag also flew from lampposts and windowsills in the streets of the nationalist Bogside district where McGuinness lived in a modest terraced house in the shadow of the 17th-century walls that dominate the city and were once a symbol of British rule.

He was hailed by many as a peacemaker in later life who played an instrumental role in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement which largely brought to an end a conflict in which around 3,500 people were killed.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017