The UN and Secretary-General Kofi Annan won the centenary Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for working for "a better organized and more peaceful world" in tackling challenges from poverty to terrorism.
"The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes in its centenary year to proclaim that the only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations," committee leader Gunnar Berge said. The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901.
The prize citation said that Annan, a 63-year-old Ghanaian, had been "pre-eminent in bringing new life to the UN" since becoming the world's top diplomat in 1997.
"He has risen to new challenges such as HIV/AIDS and international terrorism," it said.
Alluding to US-led strikes on Afghanistan after last month's suicide hijacker attacks in the US during which more than 5,400 people died, Berger said the events of recent weeks had "further underpinned" the UN award.
He did not elaborate and stopped short of urging Washington to consult the UN more in its "war on terrorism."
The committee said it was awarding the prize to the UN and Annan for "their work for a better organized and more peaceful world."
Annan said it was a great recognition for the world body, which was established in 1945 and has 50,000 employees.
"It's a wonderful feeling and a great encouragement for us and the organization, for the work we have done until now," he said. "It's a great recognition for the staff."
But, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks on the US, he said: "At the same time it is a great responsibility at such a difficult moment but reinforces us in pursuing the search for peace."
The prize, named after Alfred Nobel, a Swedish philanthropist and the inventor of dynamite, is worth 10 million Swedish krona (US$946,200). Annan said he would attend the prize ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10.
Several UN agencies have won the peace prize, including the UN peacekeeping forces in 1988, the UN refugee agency in 1954 and 1981 and UNICEF in 1965.
But the UN as a whole has never won it. The only other secretary-general to win was Sweden's Dag Hammarskjold, awarded the prize posthumously in 1961.
Nobel watchers had said that the committee, which has often favoured the UN above major powers, seems to want to avoid too much controversy in its centenary award.
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