Kenyan Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Kenyan environmental activist Wangari Maathai won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for her work as leader of the Green Belt Movement, which has sought to empower women, better the environment and fight corruption in Africa for almost 30 years.

Maathai, Kenya's deputy environment minister, is the first African woman to win the prize since it was first awarded in 1901. She has been internationally recognized for her struggle for democracy, and gained recent attention for a campaign against land grabbing and rapacious deforestation. The Green Belt Movement has planted more than 30 million trees across Africa.

"We believe that Maathai is a strong voice speaking for the best forces in Africa to promote peace and good living conditions on that continent," the Nobel committee said in its citation.

With a record 194 nominations, the committee had a broad field to choose from and speculation had focused on other candidates.

Maathai, said she, too, was surprised.

"I am absolutely overwhelmed and very emotionally charged, really," she told Norwegian state television. "I did not expect this."

It was the first time the prize honored work to preserve the environment.

During the 2001 centennial anniversary of the prize, the committee had said it wanted to wide the scope of the award, including honoring those who worked to improve the environment, as well as contributed to advancing peace worldwide.

"This is the first time environment sets the agenda for the Nobel Peace Prize, and we have added a new dimension to peace. We want to work for a better life environment in Africa," said committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes.

Many observers had speculated that the committee might try to send a message about the U.S.-led war in Iraq, as it did in 2002, when members said the choice of former President Jimmy Carter should be seen as criticism of the Bush administration's move to topple Saddam Hussein.

The choice of the 64-year-old Maathai was a clear answer that the committee eschewed politics this time around.

Morten Hoeglund, a member of Norway's Progress Party, criticized the choice, saying there were more pressing issues such as weapons of mass destruction that the Nobel Committee should have focused on.

"Today we have problems with nuclear arms and technology gone astray. The Nobel Committee should spend more resources on these matters instead," he said.

Indeed, oddsmakers and speculation had pointed to Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency as likely winners.

Last year's award went to Iranian Shirin Ebadi.

Maathai is the seventh African to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Previous winners from the continent include U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who shared the prize with the United Nations in 2001, and Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk from South Africa in 1993.

Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, or GBM, in 1977 while head of the National Council of Women of Kenya. The group quickly became the largest community-based environmental organization in Africa with a focus on planting trees and empowering women.

Maathai has also been praised for standing up to Kenya's former government, led by President Daniel arap Moi for 24 years until he stepped down after elections in 2002.

"The environment is very important in the aspects of peace because when we destroy our resources and our resources become scarce, we fight over that," she said, fighting back tears. "I am working to make sure we don't only protect the environment, we also improve governance."

The award, which includes 10 million Swedish kronor (US$1.3 million, euro1.06 million), is always presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of its founder, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. The peace prize is awarded in Oslo, and the other Nobel prizes are presented in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

"As a country we're greatly honored. This is a great moment in Kenyan history. To us this shows that what Wangari Maathai has been doing here has been recognized. We're very proud of her and she deserves all the credit," government spokesman Alfred Mutua said.

Born in April 1940, Maathai was the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree, getting a degree in biological sciences from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas, in 1964.

She has gained international acclaim for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation.

"Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment," Maathai's citation said. "Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa."

Norwegian Prime Minster Kjell Magne Bondevik said: "We are very happy about this award. She is connecting sustainable development to democracy."

This year's Nobel Prize announcements began Monday with the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine going to Americans Richard Axel and Linda B. Buck for their work on the sense of smell. On Tuesday, Americans David J. Gross, H. David Politzer and Frank Wilczek won the physics prize for their explanation of the force that binds particles inside the atomic nucleus.

The chemistry prize was awarded Wednesday to Israelis Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko and American Irwin Rose for their work in discovering a process that lets cells destroy unwanted proteins. On Thursday, Austrian feminist writer Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday.

By Doug Mellgren