Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is due to accept the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Tuesday, the first of the annual awards to be presented.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited Abiy “for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea” and his efforts for “peace and international cooperation”.
Abiy is the first Ethiopian to be awarded a Nobel prize.
The number of peace prize nominees this year – composed of 223 individuals and 78 organisations – is the fourth-highest since 1901.
The peace prize is one of the awards endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is due to accept the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Tuesday. Video: Zodidi Dano/African News Agency.
In accordance with Nobel’s will, the peace prize is handed out in Oslo.
Later Tuesday, the Nobel prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics were to be presented in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
Two literature laureates were due on stage at the Stockholm Concert Hall: Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 laureate, and Austrian author Peter Handke, the 2019 laureate.
Handke’s selection has sparked controversy, not the least in the former Yugoslavia over his support for Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic who has been accused for atrocities in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the 1990s.
Protests were planned in Stockholm over Handke’s award, but a protest in support of him was also touted.
The dual award announcement was due to a crisis that engulfed the Swedish Academy last year, prompting the postponement of the 2018 announcement.
The award ceremonies are traditionally held on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.