UN wins Nobel Peace Prize

Annan, a consummate diplomat, has revitalised the UN

The United Nations and its Secretary General, Kofi Annan, have been awarded the centenary Nobel Peace Prize.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the international organisation and its 63-year-old leader for working for human rights and to defuse global conflicts.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes in its centenary year to proclaim that the only negotiable route to global peace and co-operation goes by way of the United Nations

The Nobel Committee

In making the award, a spokesman for the Nobel Committee said: "Kofi Annan has dedicated almost all his working life to the United Nations. As secretary general, he has brought new life to the organisation."

The committee also praised Mr Annan for helping the UN rise to emerging challenges like the fights against HIV/Aids and international terrorism.

The prize, named after Alfred Nobel, a Swedish philanthropist and inventor of dynamite, is worth $946,200.

'Wonderful feeling'

In his first reaction to winning the award, Mr Annan said: "It's a wonderful feeling and a great encouragement for us and the organisation, for the work we have done until now. It's a great recognition for the staff.

Recent winners

2000: South Korean President Kim Dae-jung

1999: Medecins Sans Frontieres

1998: Northern Ireland party leaders David Trimble and John Hume

1994: Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and his Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres

1993: Then African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela and South African President FW de Klerk

1991: Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi

"At the same time it is a great responsibility at such a difficult moment but reinforces us in pursuing the search for peace."

Mr Annan took up the top UN post in 1997 and won a second five-year term as secretary general this year unopposed.

The UN has 50,000 employees worldwide. It has its headquarters in New York, six regional branches worldwide and field offices around the world. It was founded in 1945 and now has 189 state members.

The organisation's shortcomings have been numerous - its failure to stop the genocide in Rwanda, and its inability to stop brutal ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, to name but a few.

But, as the BBC's UN correspondent, Greg Barrow notes, against these are the success stories, like the recent efforts to nurture democracy in East Timor.

As always, there will be critics who object to this award but to those who work under the blue flag of the UN, this is a welcome tribute.