The announcement that President Clinton is to visit Omagh on Thursday has been broadly welcomed by the North's political parties. However, the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party and the Irish Republican Socialist Party, the political wing of the INLA, have criticised Omagh's late addition to the President's itinerary.
The local DUP councillor, Mr Oliver Gibson, who lost a relative in the Omagh bomb, said yesterday he feared Mr Clinton was attempting to "hijack" the community's grief. Commenting on the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Mr Gibson questioned the US President's credibility by saying: "This man has misled his own country, including his own family."
The Irish Republican Socialist Party has described Mr Clinton's decision to visit Omagh as "hypocritical". A party spokeswoman, Ms Fra Halligan, made the remark "in the light of his responsibility for two no-warning bombs in Sudan and Afghanistan, the number of innocent victims we can only well imagine".
On Tuesday, Omagh District Council issued a formal invitation to Mr Clinton to visit the town. The council's chairman, Mr Sean Clarke, of Sinn Fein, welcomed the news of Mr Clinton's visit. "It's only so sad he had to come for such a sad occasion."
The vice-chairman of the council, the Ulster Unionist councillor, Mr Allan Rainey, emphasised the role that the US could play in helping businesses which suffered in the blast.
The SDLP Assembly member for West Tyrone, Mr Joe Byrne, described Mr Clinton's visit to Omagh as a "sincere gesture".
Mr Patrick McDonnell, a local SDLP councillor, said yesterday that as Omagh was now the biggest statistical tragedy of the Troubles, it would be "strange if he passed us by".
The Ulster Unionist MP for West Tyrone, Mr William Thompson, welcomed Mr Clinton's visit to the town and described the occasion as "historic".