The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian Prime Minister who helped end his country’s 20-year war with Eritrea.
Announcing the prize in Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Abiy’s “efforts deserve recognition and need encouragement.”
The conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea over disputed border territory came at a huge financial and humanitarian cost for both countries.
Abiy, 43, also recently won plaudits for his role in helping to broker a power-sharing deal in neighboring Sudan after a political crisis that led to the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, the country’s ruler for almost three decades.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said Abiy – who has received both praise and criticism for his reforms in Ethiopia – has not been recognized too soon, but acknowledged that progress still needs to be made in the country.
You can read more about the Nobel committee’s decision here…
…and find out about Abiy’s tenure as Ethiopia’s leader here.
The 2019 Nobel peace Prize laureate is receiving praise from leaders around the world.
Antonio Guterres, the UN General Secretary, said his leadership has set a “wonderful example” for the international community.
Raila Odinga, the former Kenyan prime minister, said the prize is “an honour to our Continent which has long been held back by wars.”
Amnesty International were less effusive in their praise for Abiy, saying the award should “motivate him to tackle the outstanding human rights challenges” in Ethiopia.
Here’s the moment that Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, revealed that Abiy Ahmed had won the Peace Prize.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office has tweeted out a statement after Abiy Ahmed was named the Peace Prize winner.
It says the office is “pleased to express our pride” in the selection, adding that Abiy “has made peace, forgiveness and reconciliation key policy components of his administration.”
Here’s a few more comments from Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on why the committee gave Abiy this year’s award:
Reiss-Andersen also praised Afwerki for working with Abiy to achieve peace:
She commented too on Abiy’s domestic reforms as leader:
But she accepted that several challenges remain in bringing peace and security to the country:
The Nobel committee couldn’t get the Ethiopian Prime Minister on the phone before announcing that Abiy Ahmed had won the award, Berit Reiss-Andersen says.
“If he’s watching us now, I would just convey my warmest congratulations,” she adds.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, was asked by a journalist whether she had a message to disappointed supporters of Greta Thunberg, the bookmakers’ favorite to win the prize.
Reiss-Andersen reminded those watching that the committee never comments on its own deliberations.
“On the day when we announce the prize we never comment on who didn’t get the prize, and who could have had the prize,” she said, adding that she has “no comment” on the question.
There’s no way of knowing for sure whether Thunberg was even nominated – the names considered are kept secret for decades – but it’s almost certain she was put forward.
The Nobel Peace Prize was given to Ahmed “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.”
Here’s what they said when they announced the winner on Twitter.
“As Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed has sought to promote reconciliation, solidarity and social justice,” says Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, at the press conference in Oslo.
“However, many challenges remain unresolved,” she adds. “Some people will think this year’s prize is being awarded too early.”
But she says the committee “believes it is now that Abiy Ahmed’s efforts deserve recognition and need encouragement.” Reiss-Andersen adds that she hopes the prize can “strengthen Prime Minister Ahmed in his important work.”
“Rome was not made in a day,” she adds, and neither will peace and democratic development be achieved that quickly.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian Prime Minister who helped end his country’s 20-year war with Eritrea.
Awol Allo, a fellow Ethiopian and an associate professor of law at Keele University in Britain, said Abiy deserved the prize for his role in ending the 20-year war between Ethiopia and Eritrea – a largely pointless war over disputed border territory that came at a huge financial and human cost to both countries.
“The two countries are no longer in the state of war. Families have been reunited because flights are now running between the two countries. Relations that have been severed for 20 years have been rekindled,” Allo said.
The 43-year-old Abiy also recently won plaudits for his role in helping to broker a power-sharing deal in neighboring Sudan, after a political crisis that led to the arrest of Omar al-Bashir, the country’s ruler for almost three decades.
“That also speaks to someone who takes peace and stability in the Horn of Africa seriously,” Allo said.
Ethiopia’s peacemaking Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize. He pursued an audacious deal with longtime enemy Eritrea.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, is announcing the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Follow live updates here.
In person, she is tiny.
Eyes wide and head down, her discomfort with crowds and small talk make it easy to understand why Greta Thunberg says she was “an invisible girl” for most of her 16 years.
But when Thunberg went to Washington last month – into the lights, cameras and lack-of-action that makes up the modern congressional hearing – the smallest and youngest person in the room came off as the oldest soul on Capitol Hill.
Brushing off Republican talking points and Democratic flattery with equal flat annoyance, even friendly softballs were treated as reminders that she takes this much more seriously than most grown-ups. Even those in the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Climate.
“How can we get more kids involved in this issue?” asked Rep. Ben Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico.
“Just tell them the truth,” she said. “Tell them how it is. Because when I found out how it actually is, it made me furious.”
The Nobel Committee has caused numerous controversies over its lengthy history, with the awarding of several winners of its Peace Prize being questioned.
Its decision to give the award to the European Union in 2012 was met with derision from some corners, given the financial crises, rights records and foreign policies of some of the bloc’s member states.
Three Nobel laureates – Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Perez Esquivel – said the European Union didn’t qualify for the award and asked the prize board to withhold it.
Barack Obama’s 2009 victory was a surprising choice – not least to the then-US President himself, who admitted he hadn’t expected the award.
“I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations,” Obama said after accepting the prize.
In 1973, the award went to Henry Kissinger for securing a deal to end the Vietnam War – but his role in that conflict as Richard Nixon’s national security adviser caused observers to ask whether he was a suitable choice.
And in 1948, no one won the prize because the committee didn’t feel anyone met the criteria – despite many calling for Mahatma Gandhi, assassinated earlier in the year, to win posthumously.
Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old environmental activist who has pushed the climate crisis into the global spotlight, is the bookmakers’ frontrunner to win this year’s award.
If she does, she will make history by becoming its youngest-ever recipient – a year younger than Malala Yousafzai was when she shared the award in 2014.
She is the bookies’ favorite to scoop the prize, with London-based betting company Coral putting the odds on her winning at 1/2.
Another British bookmaker, William Hill, which put Thunberg at odds of 8/13, said Wednesday that 96% of Nobel Peace Prize bets had been placed on Thunberg.
William Hill spokesman Rupert Adams said punters were “convinced” Thunberg will win.
But the Swedish teenager faces competition from world leaders.
According to London-based online betting company Betfair, Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian Prime Minister who brought an end to his country’s conflict with Eritrea, is the second most likely candidate to win.
William Hill predicts that other contenders include Raoni Metuktire, the indigenous Brazilian leader and environmentalist who led a campaign to protect the Amazon, and Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Among the 78 organizations, both Betfair and William Hill show Reporters Without Borders, which advocates for press freedom, and the United Nations Human Rights Council as outside bets.
The winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in a press conference in Norway at 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET).
As always, there’s plenty of competition for the esteemed award: 223 individuals and 78 organizations are in the running this year, according to the Nobel Peace Prize website.
But winners are notoriously difficult to predict and details of the people nominated are kept secret by the Nobel Committee for decades.
The most recent winners of the prize were:
