Yesterday's deal to save Northern Ireland's power-sharing government will help secure lasting peace in the region, the United States said last night.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton praised the agreement unveiled by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Taoiseach Brian Cowen, which will see policing and justice powers devolved from Westminster to the Stormont Assembly by April 12.

The deal was announced with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down, where the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein held nearly two weeks of round-the-clock negotiations.

The deal meets republican demands for the transfer of law and order powers, while detailed timetables also set out a framework to meet unionist calls for a new system to oversee loyal order parades.

Mr Brown praised the settlement and said: "The achievements have been as great as they are inspirational.

"This moment and this agreement belongs to the people of Northern Ireland, all of the people, and now more than ever before, so does their future."

He added: "This is the last chapter of a long and troubled story and the beginning of a new chapter after decades of violence, years of talks, weeks of stalemate."

Mr Cowen also said the deal laid the foundations for a new future.