Obama wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

Prasun Sonwalkar

London, Oct 9 (PTI) US President Barack Obama on
Friday won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for his extraordinary
efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and nuclear non-
proliferation, a choice that came as a surprise considering
that he assumed office just over eight months ago.

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as
Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope
for a better future," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in a
statement, announcing its decision to award the coveted peace
prize to the 48-year-old Obama.

The announcement came as a stunning surprise as Obama
assumed Presidency just two weeks before the close of February
1 nomination deadline and was mentioned feebly in speculation
while the names of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai
and an African woman's rights activist were doing the rounds.

Obama, the son of a Kenyan father and a White American
mother who became the first Afro-American President of the US,
is the third incumbent after Theodore Rossevelt and Woodrow
Wilson to win the peace prize. Former President Jimmy Carter
won the prize after his term in the White House.

"Obama has as President created a new climate in
international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a
central position, with emphasis on the role that the United
Nations and other international institutions can play," the
statement said. (MORE) PTI