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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has been awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2019, defeating Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali as the Nobel Peace Prize winner 2019 for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation. The Nobel Peace Prize 2019 award has gone to the Ethiopian Prime Minister particularly for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. The Nobel Peace Prize 2019 also recognises all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast Agrican regions.
Story of Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed Ali's peacemaking efforts:
Abiy Ahmed Ali assumed office as the Ethopian Prime Minister in April 2018, he was clear on resuming peace talks with Eritrea. In a bid to end the long "no peace, no war" stalemate between the two countries, Abiy Ahmed worked out certain principles of a peace agreement in close cooperation with President of Eritrea Isaias Afwerki. These principles are set out in the declarations that Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali and President Afwerki signed in Asmara and Jeddah last July and September. What came as a breakthrough was Abiy Ahmed's unconditional willingness to accept the arbitration ruling of an international boundary commission in 2002.
Both Prime Minister Abiy and President Afwerki helped formalise the peace process between the two counties. Prime Minister Abiy has initiated important reforms in Ethiopia that give many citizens hope for a better life and a brighter future. In his first 100 days as Prime Minister, Abiy lifted the country's state of emergency, granting amnesty to thousands of political prisoners, discontinuing media censorship, legalising outlawed opposition groups, dismissing military and civilian leaders who were suspected corruption, and significantly increasing the influence of women in Ethiopian political and community life. Prime Minister Abiy also engaged with other peace and reconciliation processes in East and Northeast Africa. The Norwegian Nobel Committee sees Abiy Ahmed as the person who in the preceding year has done the most to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019.
On a day when the Nobel Peace Prize 2019 is announced, we remember 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg too for her histrionics at the United Nations last month. The young Swedish activist furiously attacked world leaders at the United Nations with a fiery speech, and asked: "How dare you?". Not just that. Greta's stare at US President Donald Trump when he arrived to attend a meeting on religious freedom was also caught on camera. She was hailed by some, and criticised by some. A lot many had predicted Greta Thunberg as the Nobel Peace Prize winner, but that clearly didn't happen.
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