Africa’s Child Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has followed in the footsteps of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela by being awarded The Nobel Peace Prize. The award was given for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.”
Here’s what they said when they announced the winner on Twitter
BREAKING NEWS:
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 11, 2019
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.#NobelPrize #NobelPeacePrize pic.twitter.com/uGRpZJHk1B
“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.
Nelson Mandela
The Nobel Peace Prize 1993 was awarded jointly to Nelson Mandela and Frederik Willem de Klerk “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.”