Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s prime minister, has been announced as the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. This is a prize, which he deeply deserved after his political moves in Ethiopia and in foreign policy.
Ahmed came to power in April last year and managed, after a few months, to find a deal with Eritrea to end a nearly 20-year military stalemate and solve a border problem between the two countries. This issue had caused a war back in 1998, which brought huge financial and humanitarian cost for both countries.
Ahmed has also introduced a plan of liberalising reforms to his own country, dramatically changing the atmosphere of the repressive regime. The prime minister has repeatedly condemned abuses of past governments and opened up the doors of government to a great numbers of women.
The prize recognizes Abiy’s “efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea”, said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the Norwegian Nobel committee chair.
As soon as the PM got to know the news, he stated: “Thank you very much. It is a prize given to Africa, given to Ethiopia and I can imagine how the rest of Africa’s leaders will take it positively to work on the peace-building process on our continent”.
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