Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed wins 2019 Nobel Peace Prize – World

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his peace efforts with Eritrea.

Ethiopia and Eritrea, lifelong enemies that fought a border war between 1998 and 2000, restored relations in July 2018 after years of hostility.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, the president of the five-member Norwegian Nobel Institute that awards the Nobel Peace Prize, said Ahmed was named by his movements to end his country's conflict with Eritrea in the months following his arrival at the position in 2018. He signed a "Joint Declaration of Peace and Friendship" with Eritrean Prime Minister Isaias Afwerki.

Ahmed said he is "humiliated and excited" for the prize.

In audio of a call between the Nobel Committee and the Ethiopian leader, Abiy calls the prize "a prize awarded to Africa, awarded to Ethiopia."

He also expressed his hope that the prize will be taken "positively" by other African leaders "to work on the peacebuilding process in our continent."

"The award is also intended to recognize all interested parties working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the eastern and northeastern regions of Africa," said a statement from the Nobel committee.

"In Ethiopia, even if there is a lot of work, Abiy Ahmed has initiated important reforms that give many citizens the hope of a better life and a brighter future. He spent his first 100 days as prime minister raising the country's state of emergency, granting amnesty to thousands. of political prisoners, discontinuing the media censorship, legalizing groups banned opposition, dismissing military leaders and civilians suspected of corruption, and significantly increasing the influence of women in politics and community life in Ethiopia.

"He also pledged to strengthen democracy by holding free and fair elections," the statement said, and noted: "Following the peace process with Eritrea, Prime Minister Abiy has participated in other peace and reconciliation processes in East and Northeast Africa. . "

The prize, worth nine million Swedish kronor, or about $ 900,000, will be awarded in Oslo on December 10.

Nobel Week

Two literature awards were awarded on Thursday: one for 2018 that went to the Polish novelist Olga Tokarczuk and another for 2019 that was awarded to the Austrian author Peter Handke.

Both have caused controversy: Handke for his interpretation of Serbia as a victim during the Balkan wars and for attending the funeral of his leader, and Tokarczuk for touching dark areas of Poland's past that contrast with the version of the history promoted by the party ruling nationalist of the country.

The chemistry award went to three scientists for their work that led to the development of lithium-ion batteries; the physics prize was awarded to an American Canadian and two Swiss for exploring the evolution of the universe and discovering a new type of planet; and the physiology or medicine award went to two Americans and a British scientist for discovering details of how the body's cells perceive and react to low oxygen levels.

In his will, Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite, decided that the peace prize should be awarded in Oslo. His exact reasons for having an institution in Norway delivering that award is unclear, but during his lifetime Sweden and Norway joined a union, which was dissolved in 1905.

The economics prize was not created by Nobel, but by the central bank of Sweden in 1968. It is awarded on Monday.

With the glory comes a cash prize of 9 million crowns ($ 918,000), a gold medal and a diploma. Although the peace prize is awarded in Norway, the amount is denominated in Swedish crowns.

The winners receive them in elegant ceremonies on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896, in Stockholm and Oslo.