Ethiopian prime minister wins Nobel Peace Prize

The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, who made peace last year with bitter foe Eritrea.

The BBC reports that he was awarded the prize for his efforts to “achieve peace and international cooperation.”

Mr. Abiy’s peace deal with Eritrea ended a 20-year military stalemate following their 1998-2000 border war.

He was named as the winner of the 100th Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, where he would receive the award in December.

It is worth some nine million Swedish crowns (about £730,000; $900,000).

READ ALSO: How Tunisian quartet emerged 2015 Nobel Prize winners

Following the announcement, Mr. Abiy said he was “humbled and thrilled.”

“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,” he added in a phone call with the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

A total of 301 candidates had been nominated for the prestigious award, including 223 individuals and 78 organisations.

There had been great speculation over who would win the prize, with climate activist Greta Thunberg widely tipped as the favourite.

Under the Nobel Foundation’s rules, nomination shortlists are not allowed to be published for 50 years, and the organisation said any speculation ahead of the announcement is “sheer guesswork.

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