Berit Reiss-Anderson, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, has announced that the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Abiy Ahmed, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work ending Ethiopia’s 20 year war with Eritrea.
The prize is also meant to recognise all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast African regions.
"When Abiy Ahmed became Prime Minister in April 2018, he made it clear that he wished to resume peace talks with Eritrea. In close cooperation with Isaias Afwerki, the President of Eritrea, Abiy Ahmed quickly worked out the principles of a peace agreement to end the long “no peace, no war” stalemate between the two countries,” said Reis-Anderson.
Many people expected that this year’s award would go to Greta Thunberg, the 16 year old Norwegian climate activist.
This is the 100th Nobel Peace Prize awarded since the prizes began in 1901. (There were some years when the prize was not awarded at all, especially the years of WWI and WWII.)