Could an East African Win the Nobel Peace Prize?

The Ethiopian Prime Minister, and a Somalian social rights campaigner, are among the bookmaker’s favourites to win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Abiy Ahmed and Ilwad Elman have been recognised for their contribution to peace this year and could take home the most globally recognisable and prestigious award of recognition for their work.

But who are they, and what have these Africans done to merit such an honour?

In July 2018 the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made shockwaves around the world when he visited Eritrea, brokering a peace deal that brought an end to two decades of conflict between the two East African countries.  

Despite signing a peace accord back in 2000, violence between the neighbours had not ceased, but the diplomacy and deference shown by Ahmed and his government finally brought that to a close.

Another pipped for the prize is Ilwad Elman.  Aged just 22, she moved from Canada to Somalia, where her family are from, hoping to continue the work of her father, Elman Ali Ahmed, also known as the Father of Peace, who was killed in 1996.  

Elman restarted her father’s campaign, Drop the Gun, Pick the Pen, helping children return to school after suffering from the years of war in Somalia.  

Alongside her mother, Fartuun Adan, she co-founded the first crisis centre for rape victims in the country, alongside developing programmes to disarm and reintegrate both child and adult soldiers caught up in the fighting.

This year has garnered more media attention and speculation than previous ones for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is a landmark anniversary: 100 years since the prize was first awarded.  But it is also the candidates, amongst whom Ahmed and Elman sit.

Leading the odds is 16-year-old climate change activist Greta Thunberg, who would be the youngest ever winner at over a year younger than Pakistani campaigner Malala Yousafzai when she won the award in 2014.  Also in the running is New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.

The winner of the prize will be announced later today at 11 a.m. in Norway (14:00 EAT).