Annan, U.N. cited for peace work, win Nobel

Kofi Annan accepts the medal for the Nobel Peace Prize

Also Annan: Ghana's global diplomat

OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the organization of 189 nations which he heads jointly accepted the 100th Nobel Peace Prize Monday in Oslo, Norway.

During the December 10 awards ceremony, the Nobel committee called the award -- the renowned medal, plus 10 million Swedish crowns ($953,000) -- a special endorsement of Annan's and the United Nations' efforts to create a better-organized and more peaceful world.

The prize, the centenary of the annual award, underscores the belief that "the only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by the way of the United Nations," the committee said in a written statement.

Annan was joined on stage by South Korean Foreign Minister Han Seung-soo, president of the U.N. General Assembly, who accepted the award on behalf of the organization.

More than 20 peace laureates from previous years, including East Timorese freedom fighter Jose Ramos-Horta and South Africa's Desmond Tutu, also gathered on stage for the ceremony at Oslo City Hall.

Also Watch an excerpt of "Prize for Peace," a one hour special interview with Secretary-General Kofi Annan, hosted by CNN's Jonathan Mann.

It was the biggest gathering of Nobel Peace Prize winners in history.

The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington have given the world's nations a rallying event, Annan said.

"We have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire," Annan said. "If today, after the horror of 11 September, we see better, and we see further -- we will realize that humanity is indivisible.

"In the early beginnings of the 21st century -- a century already violently disabused of any hopes that progress toward global peace and prosperity is inevitable -- this new reality can no longer be ignored," he said.

Annan also called for global cooperation in fighting poverty, ignorance and disease.

"Today, no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part of the world from national security crises in another," he said. "What begins with the failure to uphold the dignity of one life all too often ends with a calamity for entire nations."

Quoting from the Koran, Confucius and the Bible, Annan said all major faiths recognize the value of tolerance.

"The notion that what is ours is necessarily in conflict with what is theirs ... has resulted in endless enmity and conflict, leading men to commit the greatest of crimes in the name of a higher power," he said.

Annan, a 63-year-old from Ghana known for his unflappable, understated style of leadership, is widely credited with helping restore a new spirit at the United Nations. He spent 33 years moving slowly up through the U.N. system before his election to its highest post in 1996. In July, he was elected to a second, four-year term.

Annan was interviewed by CNN's Jonathon Mann in a live one hour special program on CNN International.

In an interview with CNN following the ceremony, Annan clarified his views on the role of the United Nations, especially in dealing with the current crisis in Afghanistan.

Winning a ground and air battle is but the first step in helping the nation, he said. "The hard part is ahead of us," Annan said. The nation of 25 million people has not known a functioning state for nearly 28 years, he said.

Annan has proposed a multinational force made up of peacekeepers from U.N. member states to work with a new administration in Afghanistan to maintain order.

"Of course, the force that goes in has to be well-equipped and prepared for all eventualities," he said. "But it's going to be tough. It's going to be dangerous. This is not a risk-free operation, but it needs to be done if we're going to help the Afghans get back to their feet."

The U.N. feels "tremendous solidarity with the United States" in its war on terrorism, but it cannot forget other pressing global needs, Annan said.

"The old problems that existed on 10 September, before the attack, are still with us: poverty, the elimination of poverty, the fight against HIV-AIDS, the question of the environment and ensuring we stop exploiting resources the way we've been doing," he said. "All these issues, the issues of good governance, are still with us and I think we need to focus on them as well."

Annan spent years trying to bridge the rift between the United States and the United Nations and get the only remaining superpower to pay its overdue membership fees. His efforts ultimately paid off.

A century of winners Click here for a list of Nobel Prize winners in peace

"I keep quiet, but I keep pressing. I don't give up," he said.

"In fairness to President Bush, he did assure me from the beginning that he was going to make sure the U.S. debt was paid. Of course, this was accelerated after the September 11 attack. Since September 11 everyone realizes, even Washington, that there are issues today that no one country, no matter how powerful, can resolve alone."

Annan also cited one of the United Nations' biggest peacekeeping failures -- the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, when weeks of undisguised mass murder went on while other nations essentially did nothing.

Annan, who had been appointed under-secretary of peacekeeping for the United Nations in 1993, was unable to muster the needed support from the international community to intervene in Rwanda.

"I personally spoke to (the ambassadors) of 80 countries, pleading them, begging them, to give us troops to go in," he said. "The ambassadors said that they had their orders."

Annan said he did not consider quitting, although he later apologized on behalf of himself and the United Nations.

"I would have stepped down if I thought it would solve the problem," he said. "Would it be better for me to resign or stay on and try to improve things and try to make sure such things are not repeated? I chose the latter. We need to keep hope alive and strive to do better."

Back to top