43-year-old Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed collects Nobel Peace Prize, urges unity against hatred
Oslo, Dec 10: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed collected the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Tuesday, appealing for unity as ethnic violence flares in his country and reconciliation efforts with neighbouring former foe Eritrea have stalled.
Abiy, 43, won the Nobel for his efforts to resolve the long-running conflict with Eritrea. Announced back in October, the prize also honoured his mediation efforts in eastern Africa and the democratic reforms he has undertaken in his country, long ruled by authoritarian leaders.
Ethiopia saw spectacular progress in the months after he took power in April 2018, but the winds have since shifted: in addition to the stalled peace process with Eritrea, his reforms aimed at opening up Ethiopia have paradoxically given rise to a flare-up of ethnic tensions.
Faced with these challenges, Africa's youngest leader called for unity as he picked up his award at Oslo's flower-bedecked City Hall, in a formal ceremony attended by the Norwegian royal family and dignitaries.
"There is no 'Us and Them'," he said. "There is only 'Us', for 'We' are all bound by a shared destiny of love, forgiveness and reconciliation." On July 9, 2018, following a historic meeting in Eritrea's capital Asmara, Abiy and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki formally ended a 20-year-old stalemate between their countries in the wake of the 1998-2000 border conflict.
That was just three months after Abiy took office.
On Tuesday, Abiy was quick to praise the role of his Eritrean "partner and comrade-in-peace" -- the only leader Eritrea has known since it gained independence in 1993 -- in his Nobel Prize.
"We understood our nations are not enemies. Instead, we were victims of the common enemy called poverty," he said.
A former soldier himself, Abiy also testified to the ravages of war, recalling how his entire unit had been wiped out in an Eritrean artillery attack but he had survived after briefly leaving a foxhole to get better antenna reception.
"War is the epitome of hell for all involved," he said.
During the lightning-fast rapprochement that followed the peace deal with Asmara, embassies reopened, flights resumed and meetings were held across the region.
But the "Abiymania" hype has faded and he is now facing major challenges.
The land border between the two nations is once again closed, and the question of border demarcations remains unresolved.
"At present, this work seems to be at a standstill," said the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen.
"It is the hope of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that your previous achievements, coupled with added encouragement of the Peace Prize, will spur the parties to further implementation of the peace treaties," she added.
Abiy has vowed to hold the first "free, fair and democratic" elections since 2005 in May, and experts fear the Ethiopian leader may have to shift his attention away from the peace process to focus on the vote.
In stark contrast to his authoritarian predecessors, Abiy has lifted the state of emergency, released dissidents from jail, apologised for state brutality and welcomed home exiled armed groups.
He also established a national reconciliation committee and lifted a ban on some political parties.
But less than two weeks after the Nobel announcement in October, anti-Abiy protests left 86 people dead.
In his Nobel speech, he denounced the "evangelists of hate and division" who are "wreaking havoc in our society using social media".
Meanwhile, the Nobel festivities have been tainted by Abiy's refusal to field questions from the media, as the ex-intelligence chief has considerably shortened the traditional Nobel programme and cut out all news conferences.
The head of the Nobel Institute, Olav Njolstad, called the decision "highly problematic", noting that a "free press and freedom of expression are essential conditions for a lasting peace in a democracy." Abiy's entourage responded that it was "quite challenging" for a sitting leader to spend several days at such an event, especially when "domestic issues are pressing and warrant attention".
They also said Abiy's "humble disposition" contrasted with "the very public nature of the Nobel award".
The Nobel Peace Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque for nine million Swedish kronor (850,000 euros, 9,45,000).
The other Nobel prizes for literature, physics, chemistry, medicine and economics will also be handed over on Tuesday, but in Stockholm.
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Facing criticism over ‘poll stunt’ remark, Channi questions Centre on Pulwama terror attack probe
Chandigarh, May 6: Under fire over his "poll stunt" remark, Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi on Monday said he was proud of the country's soldiers but targeted the Centre over the 2019 Pulwama terror strike, saying the government could not ascertain who carried out the attack.
The former Punjab chief minister on Sunday called the Poonch terror attack in which an IAF soldier was killed a "stunt" meant to make the BJP win the Lok Sabha elections.
The remark by the Congress candidate from Jalandhar seat triggered a row with Union minister Anurag Thakur asking the Congress leadership to seek an apology from Channi for insulting soldiers with this deplorable statement.
In a video message on Monday, Channi said, "We are proud of our soldiers who protect our country."
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Referring to his statement made on Sunday, Channi said ahead of the last parliamentary polls, 40 jawans were killed but the government could not yet ascertain who carried out the terror attack.
"Who was responsible for that attack," he asked.
Forty Central Reserve Police Force troopers died in a terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, 2019.
"Again the elections have come and again our jawans have been attacked," said Channi as he was referring to the terror attack in Poonch.
"I want to ask the government who are those people who get such attacks done. Why don't you bring them forward? Why does intelligence failure take place," he asked.
Channi said Sunil Jakhar, who was earlier with the Congress and now with the BJP, had then even demanded the resignation of the prime minister over the death of 40 soldiers.
"Today again a soldier got martyred and I want to ask Jakhar ji what is your stand now," he said.
"Why are our soldiers getting martyred and why is there intelligence failure of the government," he asked.
In Jalandhar on Sunday while replying to a question on the attack on the Indian Air Force's convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch, Channi had said, "'Yeh stuntbaazi ho rahi hai, hamle nahi ho rahe' (These are all stunts, not attacks)."
"Whenever elections are near, such stunts are performed to make the BJP win. There is no truth in it," he had said.
"The BJP knows how to play with people's lives and bodies," he had alleged.
One soldier was killed and four were injured as terrorists ambushed an IAF convoy in Poonch district on Saturday, three weeks ahead of polling in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency.
The officials suspect the involvement of the same group of terrorists who ambushed troops in adjoining Bufliaz on December 21 last year, leaving four soldiers dead and three injured.
Union minister Thakur strongly condemned Channi's remarks and asked the Congress whether it will insult soldiers to win elections.
