South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on being awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.
Announcing the award, the Sweden-based Nobel Committee said Ahmed was recognised “for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation and, in particular, for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.”
Ramaphosa, in his message, paid tribute to the governments and peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea for making this achievement possible.
The peace initiative had opened up new possibilities for cooperation, integration and development across the continent, he added.
“The peace achieved between these neighbouring states is an important enabler of the African Continental Free Trade Area and of the many objectives of the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
“We all share in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s achievement and in the future of cooperation and good neighbourliness on which the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea have embarked,” the president said.
Ahmed is the seventh African to receive the award over the years – with three of these honours granted to South Africans Albert Luthuli, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk for their peacemaking efforts to end apartheid South Africa. NM/APA