Africa’s youngest leader’s Peace Prize

Abiy, 43, became Africa’s youngest leader when he was appointed prime minister in March 2018. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for forging an end to almost two decades of conflict with neighboring Eritrea, described how his personal exposure to the horrors it wrought drove him to seek a rapprochement. “War is the epitome of hell for all involved,” Abiy, who served as a radio operator in the Ethiopian army and was the only survivor of an artillery attack on his unit during the war, said in his Nobel lecture in Oslo on Tuesday. “I know because I have been there and back.” Abiy described Isaias as his partner and said his goodwill and commitment played a vital role in bringing about the deal that persuaded the United Nations to lift decades-old sanctions on Eritrea

He said, “We understood our nations are not enemies,” the Ethiopian leader said in a prepared speech. “Instead, we were victims of the common enemy called poverty. We recognized that while our two nations were stuck on old grievances, the world was shifting rapidly and leaving us behind.”

Listen to his acceptance speech

Source – Africa.com