US Senator Edward Kennedy has appealed for peace and healing in Northern Ireland, sharing grief at his family's own catalogue of tragedies with victims of the Troubles.

Mr Kennedy, a member of America's most famous Catholic family, urged republicans and loyalists to trust his country's help with negotiations on the province's future.

"You are part of our heritage and history," he told Protestants in the religiously mixed audience at the Guildhall, Londonderry's city hall, where President Clinton addressed a similar crowd in 1995.

"The vast, vast majority of Irish Catholics in America bear you no ill will.

"We are brothers and sisters, not enemies."

"Reach out in trust and hope"

Making his first visit to Northern Ireland despite a political career in which he has taken a close interest in the politics of the province, Senator Kennedy looked tired and tearful as he toured Londonderry.

"Like so many of you here, my family has been touched by tragedy. The best way to ease these feelings is to forgive, and to carry on - not to lash out in fury, but to reach out in trust and hope," he said.

The latest victim of Northern Ireland's conflict was shot dead in a Catholic pub on New Year's Eve - the same day Mr Kennedy's nephew Michael died in a skiing accident.

"Find a solution"

Mr Kennedy's lecture in memory of Tip O'Neill, an Irish American who became speaker of the US Congress, was upstaged by the parents of two victims who shared the podium with him - and reduced many to tears.

"The pain I felt on Stephen's death was as great as the pain I felt giving birth to him," said Rita Restorick, whose 24-year-old son was shot dead by an IRA sniper last February.

He was the last soldier killed before the republican ceasefire was declared in July, but Ms Restorick said he was only one of more than 3,400 victims from a conflict that "started before Stephen was even born".

"People have to talk and try to find a solution," she said.

"Rita, I know how you feel," said Michael McGoldrick, a Catholic whose 31-year-old son was shot dead in July 1996 by a breakaway Protestant gang opposed to the ceasefire.

"We should follow the Christian teaching: 'Love one another'. I can love the man that murdered my son."

"There will be two communities"

Mr Kennedy emphasised how important it was for the peace talks - due to resume on Monday - to produce a settlement that granted equal status to both sides.

"However far into the future, whatever the colour of the flags, there will be two communities, each with its own character and pride, sharing this beautiful piece of earth," he said.

"I urge everyone to approach the talks with a view to give as much as they can, rather than as little as they think they can get away with," he told the audience, which included Sinn Fein and loyalist leaders.

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