Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed wins 2019 Nobel Peace Prize

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.

He has been recognized for his work in bringing to an end more than 20 years of conflict with neighboring Eritrea.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2019 to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali,” a statement from the Academy reads.

The prize, worth approximately Ksh. 93,420,000 ($900,000), will be presented in Oslo on December 10.

It was announced on Friday by Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The PM is behind brokered peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea, who had been fighting over border control from 1998 to 2000.

They restored relations in July 2018 after years of hostility.

A Reuters report earlier noted how Ethiopian officials were shocked by social media reports that their Prime Minister was visiting Eritrea.

“The foreign office was not in the loop,” Reuters quoted a senior official. “We learned of it from the Eritrean media, on Facebook and Twitter.”

On Friday, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the PM beat three top contenders for the Nobel Peace Prize.

They are Greta Thunberg, a climate change activist, Raoni Metuktire (Brazilian leader) and  Jacinda Ardern (the New Zealand Prime Minister).

Notable leaders who have won the Nobel Peace Prize in the past are the late Wangari Maathai, the late Nelson Mandela, the late Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu, Wole Soyinka, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Albert Luthuli.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama was announced as winner of the coveted prize in 2009.