by Staff Reporter
June 1, 2013 (TSR) – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on Friday announced to grant the gold medal of the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize to French President Francois Hollande in recognition of his peace efforts in Africa.
“The Jury of the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize on Feb. 21 decided to honor the President of France ‘for his great contribution to peace and stability in Africa,'” declared the UN organization in a statement.
“After analyzing the global situation, it is Africa that held the attention of the Jury with the various threats affecting the continent,” said the former President of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, who chaired the Jury of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize.
“Having assessed the dangers and the repercussions of the situation on Africa, and on Mali in particular, as well as on the rest of the world, the Jury appreciated the solidarity shown by France to the peoples of Africa,” Mr. Chissano said after the Jury’s meeting in Paris in February.
“The Jury condemns the violation of Mali’s territorial integrity, the violation of human rights, the taking of hostages and the destruction of the cultural heritage of humanity in Timbuktu,” Mr. Chissano added.
The award ceremony will take place on June 5 at UNESCO’s headquarters, where Hollande will receive the prize presented by Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova.
The award, created in 1989 by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), honours people, institutions and organizations that have contributed significantly to the promotion, research, preservation or maintenance of peace in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO. It is named for the first president of Côte d’Ivoire, Houphouet-Boigny.
Northern Mali was occupied by radical Islamists after fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels. The conflict uprooted hundreds of thousands of people and prompted the Malian Government to request assistance from France to stop the military advance of extremist groups.
Previous winners of the prize include former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Nelson Mandela and Frederik W. De Klerk; Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat; King Juan Carlos of Spain; and former United States President Jimmy Carter.
The award ceremony for the prize – which consists of $150,000, a gold medal and a diploma – will be held on a date to be announced.
A number of presidents of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and countries of the Sahel region will attend the ceremony, the UNESCO said, confirming that Hollande will deliver a keynote address at the ceremony.
Former laureates of the Prize include Nelson Mandela and Frederik W. De Klerk; Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat; King Juan Carlos of Spain; and former President of Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
