Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday "for his efforts to achieve international peace and cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea," the jury said.
Berit Reiss-Andersen, president of the Norwegian Nobel Institute of five members who awards the Nobel Peace Prize, said Ahmed was chosen for his measures to end his country's conflict with neighboring Eitrea after a few months of taking office in 2018. He signed a âJoint Declaration of Peace and Friendshipâ with the Eritrean premier Isaias Afwerki.
The Nobel Committee especially underlined the work of the Eritrean president.
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"Peace is not only achieved thanks to the actions of one person. When Prime Minister Abiy held out his hand, President Afwerki accepted it and contributed to shaping the peace process between the two countries," the agency said.
More than 300 personalities and organizations were candidates this year to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
With 43 years, he is probably the most educated political leader in the country, and in his curriculum he has a PhD, military experience and the creation of the Information Network Security Agency (INSA), an espionage service in the African country.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister was born on August 15, 1976 in Agaro, an area rich in natural resources and coffee – the star product of Ethiopian exports – from the Oromia region (southwest), where the country's largest ethnic group lives, the atoms.
He grew up in a multicultural family made up of an Amara mother, the other large ethnic group in the country, an Orthodox Christian religion and a Muslim Oromo father.
Married and with 3 daughters, Abiy speaks fluently, in addition to English and Amharic (main languages ââof the country), Omo and Trigriña.
After being appointed prime minister on April 2, 2018, Abiy worked on the opening, democratization and reconciliation of his country. He installed a joint government with a woman as president, managed to sign a peace agreement after 20 years of war with neighboring Eritrea, and removed the opposition parties from the list of terrorist groups.
A country dyed for years with a monochromatic Parliament and autocratic decision leaders, changed with its arrival to the point that international media such as The Economist magazine began talking about "AbiymanĂa".
His detractors, however, consider that what Abiy has done is a face-lift that hides few solutions to root problems of the second most populous nation in Africa (more than 100 million inhabitants), such as ethnic tensions, which have placed as the country with newest displaced people in the world, and the lack of federalism.
In 2018, the Swedish Academy awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege and Yazidi Nadia Murad, for his fight against sexual violence.
Santos gets the Nobel Peace Prize for starting a path without wars
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