Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: October 12 (EI) – Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Mahboub Maalim, has hailed the Ethiopian Prime Minister of Abiy Ahmed Ali’s winning of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize as “well-deserved, and a source of great pride for Africa.”
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the Ethiopian premier as this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea.”
“The prize is also meant to recognize all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast African regions,” according to a press statement issued by the committee.
The East African bloc chief, in a congratulatory message sent to Abiy, described the award as “very well-deserved, and a source of great pride not only for Ethiopia and the IGAD region but for the African continent.”
“It was particularly a proud moment for the IGAD region given Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s role as Chairman of IAGD,” an IGAD statement issued late Friday quoted Maalim as saying.
Maalim further applauded the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s recognition of Ahmed’s “decisive leadership in initiating a momentous national reform process in Ethiopia as well as his distinguished leadership in promoting peace and regional cooperation in the IGAD region.”
He also recalled “the great significance of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s decisive initiative in normalizing relations with Eritrea following a long stalemate, as well as his leadership in supporting the political transition in the Republic of Sudan.”
“The award will no doubt give impetus to efforts for peace, development and solidarity in Ethiopia and in the region at large,” the IGAD Executive Secretary stressed.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Abiy Ahmed in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea,” Maalim added.
Recent positive developments in the Ethiopia-Eritrea relations, which led Ahmed to win the prestigious award, are considered as a new beginning since the two countries bloody two-year border war from 1998-2000, which left an estimated 70,000 people dead from both sides.
As tows deepen, Ethiopia’s Ahmed and the Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki had also in September last year inked a peace deal in Saudi Arabia, reiterating their joint resolve to sustain the normalization of ties.
Eritrea was once part of the Ethiopian federation before the Red Sea nation’s independence in 1993.
