| |
OSLO : US President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday just nine months into his term, prompting world leaders to urge him to use the accolade to step up efforts for global peace.
Obama, 48, said he was "surprised" and "humbled" by the distinction, and would accept it as a "call to action" for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century.
The jury hailed Obama's "extraordinary" efforts in international diplomacy and to hasten nuclear disarmament, but criticism surged quickly over how the award could be given so soon.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the Nobel jury said in making the stunning announcement.
A gasp went through the Nobel Institute in Oslo as Obama's name was read out.
The committee attached "special importance to Obama's vision and work for a world without nuclear weapons" and said he had created "a new climate in international politics."
Obama took office on January 20 and has sought to restore US standing after widespread criticism over the war in Iraq and the world superpower's attitude to efforts to control global warming.
The first black American president has brought the Israeli and Palestinian leaders together for a meeting, approved new diplomatic engagement with Iran, Myanmar and North Korea and signalled a new willingness to attack growing environmental problems.
He went to Cairo to make a major speech on relations with the Muslim world, badly tarnished by President George W. Bush's order to invade Iraq. At the United Nations, he has launched an initiative to reduce the number of nuclear weapons.
Obama was honoured "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee Thorbjoern Jagland said, adding that it was "a unanimous decision."
The jury said: "Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations," it said.
"Thanks to Obama's initiative, the US is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic changes the world is confronting."
The committee said it was seeking to encourage Obama's ideals rather than recognise concrete results.
Speaking to AFP, Jagland said: "It was unavoidable to give the prize to the man who has improved the international climate and emphasised negotiations and dialogue."
"Before he took office the situation was so dangerous. Step by step he has given the message to the world that he wants to negotiate on all conflicts, strengthen the United Nations and work for a world without any nuclear arms."
Obama said he interpreted the award not "as as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."
"To be honest, I do not feel I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honoured by this prize."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed the news, calling it an "incentive to the president and to us all" to do more for peace.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation agreed.
"We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty," it said.
World leaders react to Obama's Nobel win
The UN said it hoped the prize would encourage Obama to commit to an international treaty on global warming, and the head of the Arab League, Amr Mussa, said he hoped it would "help intensify efforts to reach peace in the Middle East and contain negative efforts opposed to peace."
A spokesman for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tehran hoped it would give Obama "the incentive to walk in the path of bringing justice to the world order."
UN's nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei, another past Peace Prize winner, said Obama had "provided outstanding leadership on moving towards a world free of nuclear weapons."
But Poland's anti-communist leader Lech Walesa, who won the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize, said it was too early to reward Obama now.
"Who, Obama? So fast? Too fast -- he hasn't had the time to do anything yet," Walesa told reporters in Warsaw.
"For the time being Obama's just making proposals. But sometimes the Nobel committee awards the prize to encourage responsible action."
In Afghanistan, Taliban militia spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid condemned the prize, saying, "We have seen no change in his strategy for peace. He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan."
Asked whether it was too early to give Obama the prize, Jagland replied: "If you look at the history of the Peace Prize, we have on many occasions given it to try to enhance what many personalities were trying to do."
Obama is the third sitting US president to win the award, after Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919.
- AFP /ls
|
