Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - Friday October 12, 2001
Alister Doyle

The choice brought a flood of praise from around the globe, except from survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda who accused Annan of responsibility in failing to stop the slaughter. He was head of U.N. peacekeeping at the time.

Woken in New York to be told of the Oslo committee's choice, Annan said it was a "wonderful feeling and a great encouragement" for the United Nations, which was set up in 1945 and now has 50,000 employees.

"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 een "pre-eminent in bringing new life to the U.N." since ecoming the world's top diplomat in 1997.

It praised Annan, only the sixth black recipient of the peace prize, for stressing human rights, security and peace. "He has risen to new challenges such as HIV/AIDS and international terrorism," it said.

Alluding to U.S.-led strikes on Afghanistan after last month's suicide hijacker attacks in the United States in which 5,600 people died, Berge said events of recent weeks had "further underpinned" the U.N. award.

But he told reporters it would have been made "regardless of what happened on September 11." Berge expressed hope the United Nations might play a role in ending the conflict.

The committee said it was awarding the prize to the United Nations and Annan for "their work for a better organized and more peaceful world."

It said the end of the Cold War made it possible for the United Nations to play a fuller role.

Annan said: "It's a wonderful feeling and a great encouragement for us and the organization, for the work we have done until now. It's a great recognition for the staff."

But, referring to the attacks on New York and Washington landmarks, 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."

OVER 100 NOMINEES

The prize, named after Alfred Nobel, a Swedish philanthropist and inventor of dynamite, is worth $946,200. Annan said he would attend the prize ceremony in Oslo on December 10.

The United Nations and Annan won from a field of 136 nominees including the International Committee of the Red Cross, the U.N. war crimes tribunal, soccer's governing body FIFA, Pope John Paul and the European Court of Human Rights.

The United Nations, which has 189 member governments, says it "works to make the world a better place for all people" and strives to "promote human rights, protect the environment, fight disease, foster development and reduce poverty."

Annan won a second five-year term as secretary-general this year unopposed after successfully walking a tightrope in one of the toughest jobs in the world.

Norwegians strongly support the United Nations, whose first secretary general, Trygve Lie, was a Norwegian.

Many world leaders hailed the prize. British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "no one and no organization is more deserving."

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Annan "really worries about the poor of the world" and was "changing the face of the U.N.."

In New York, U.N. ambassadors were jubilant. India's U.N. envoy, Kamalesh Sharma, said that it would make Annan a "real global celebrity, like a rock star."

But in the Rwandan capital Kigali, genocide survivors blasted the prize, saying the United Nations had stood by while extremists from the ethnic Hutu majority massacred 800,000 people, mostly Hutus.

"He has a heavy responsibility in the Rwandan genocide." said Antoine Mugesera, Chairman of the Ibuka association of genocide survivors. "After all the mess he made in Rwanda, how can such a highly respected institution award him the prize?"

Annan has commissioned a major report into what went wrong in Rwanda, as well as in Bosnia at the same time, and apologized on behalf of the United Nations.

Several U.N. agencies have won the peace prize, including the U.N. peacekeeping forces in 1988, the U.N. refugee agency in 1954 and 1981 and the U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF in 1965.

But the United Nations 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.

The United Nations and Annan had been widely tipped for the prize on the 100th anniversary of the first award, to Switzerland's Henri Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, and to Frenchman Frederic Passy, a leading peace campaigner. Last year's prize went to South Korean President Kim Dae-jung .

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