“Trump Should Take His Nobel Complaint To Organisers” – Ethiopian PM

US President Donald Trump should take his complaint about being overlooked for the Nobel Peace Prize to the award organisers, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 winner, has said.

Mr Abiy said he was not aware of the criteria used to select him.

He was credited for his move to make peace with neighbouring Eritrea.

Mr Trump said last week that he had “saved a country” from a big war, a possible reference to his work on another dispute involving Ethiopia.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a bitter border war from 1998-2000, which killed tens of thousands of people.

Although a ceasefire was signed in 2000, the neighbours technically remained at war until July 2018, when Mr Abiy and Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki signed a peace deal.

For two decades, the long border was closed, dividing families and making trade impossible.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Mr Abiy was honoured for his “decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea”.

He told reporters during a press briefing in South Africa that he was “not working for the prize” but for “peace in the region”.

“I don’t have any clue about the criteria, how the Nobel committee selects an individual for the prize,” he said.

“If President Trump complained it must go to Oslo not to Ethiopia,” he added.