The Dalai Lama has said there is no alternative to the peace process during a visit to Northern Ireland.People have to work and live together and refrain from acting like animals, he said.
He is on a visit to Derry, the UK City of Culture, to address 2,500 people at a former army barracks and cross a peace bridge linking the mainly Catholic west side of the river with the mainly Protestant east side.
"There is no other alternative to the peace process, there is no other choice - you have to work and live together so we should not act like animals," he said.
The serpentine pedestrian peace bridge was opened in 2011.
It cost £14 million (€16.3m) to build and is the length of two-and-a-half football pitches.
Before crossing the bridge, the Dalai Lama will meet Catholic and Protestant church leaders, including Monsignor Eamon Martin.
At the other end he will be presented with a gift by two children.
He will also attend an event called Culture Of Compassion at a former army barracks turned civic space in the city and give a public address.
The Dalai Lama last visited the city in 2007 when he attended anniversary celebrations for the charity Children In Crossfire, which is organising today's event.
The charity promotes early childhood care and development in some of the poorest countries in the world and its patron is Tibet's spiritual leader.
Richard Moore, the organisation's director, met the Dalai Lama in India, where he is in exile from Chinese-ruled Tibet.
Mr Moore was shot and blinded by a British soldier 40 years ago.
He travelled to meet the Dalai Lama with the man who shot him after they befriended each other.