Ethiopians welcomed colorfully this morning the 2019 Nobel Peace prize laureate, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who traveled to Oslo this week to receive his award.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy is awarded for his efforts in bringing peace between his country and the neighboring Eritrea.
“After witnessing the world celebrating Ethiopia, I am glad to be back home. Thank you to all who organized a heartwarming welcome and celebrating our collective victory. Together we can and we will!” PM Abiy said, upon arrival at Bole International Airport this morning.
During his lecture at the Award ceremony in Oslo on Tuesday, which many Ethiopians appreciated on social media, PM Abiy explained about his Medemer philosophy quoting a verse from the Holy Bible, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”
Prime Minister Abiy, who is born from an Orthodox Christian mother and a Muslim father, also quoted similar verse from the Holy Quran.
“Standing on this world stage today, I would like to call up on all my fellow Ethiopians to join hands and help build a country that offers equal justice, equal rights and equal opportunities for all its citizens… We should avoid the path of extremism and division powered by politics of exclusion,” he said.
“Our accord hangs in the balance of inclusive politics. The evangelists of hate and division are wreaking havoc in our society using social media. They are preaching the gospel of revenge and retribution on their airwaves. Together we must neutralize the toxin of hatred by creating a civic culture of consensus-based democracy, inclusivity, civility, and tolerance based on Medemer principles,” PM Abiy said.
Named after Alfred Nobel about a century ago, the Award includes a medal, a personal diploma, and a cash award, which will be given to the individual or institution for accomplishing “the greatest benefit to mankind”.
“They say that good news rarely arrives from the Horn of Africa. Historically good news did in fact come from Africa. Ethiopia is the cradle of human kind. The first Homosapiens emigrated from the territory of your country,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
“In this sense we are all Ethiopians. Your country has a unique history also with in an African context since it was never colonized by any western power and it is in part for this very reason that Ethiopia is home to the African Union,” she said.
Between 1901 and 2019, the Nobel Prizes and the Prize in Economic Sciences were awarded 597 times to 950 people and organizations.