NOBEL PEACE PRIZE: A principled Egyptian lawyer and diplomat, Mohamed ElBaradei, and the UN nuclear watchdog that he heads yesterday won the 2005 Nobel peace prize for their efforts to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The Norwegian committee that awards the prize said in its citation: "At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, the International Atomic Energy Agency's work is of incalculable importance."
Dr ElBaradei said he was "humbled and honoured" to receive the prize, endowed by the Swedish industrialist (and inventor of dynamite) Alfred Nobel at the end of the 19th century. "The award gives me lots of pride and also lots of responsibility," he said. "It sends a very strong message: keep doing what you are doing."
Dr ElBaradei, described by the committee as a "fearless advocate" of measures to reinforce non-proliferation, led the IAEA's unsuccessful efforts to establish the presence of a nuclear programme in Iraq before the war, and has spearheaded its attempts to stop North Korea and Iran from acquiring nuclear arms.
Despite US efforts to unseat him, he was reappointed earlier this year to a third four-year term. He has exasperated Washington by refusing to bow to political pressure, insisting that no evidence of weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq and, more recently, declining to denounce a nuclear arms programme in Iran until he is sure one exists.
Yesterday's award brought congratulations from heads of state and governments around the world, including the US.
The IAEA's spokeswoman, Melissa Fleming, said everyone at the Vienna-based organisation was elated. Dr ElBaradei's wife, Aida, told CNN she was "overwhelmed with pride".
The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, congratulated the winners, saying the Bush administration was "committed to working with the IAEA to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology".
The only dissenting voice was Greenpeace's. The environmental group said it was shocked at the award, arguing that the IAEA's promotion of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes had increased the risk of nuclear arms proliferation.
The award, worth €1 million, confirms the Nobel committee's intention to honour work on nuclear disarmament on the 60th anniversary of the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
The 1975 peace prize went to the Soviet nuclear scientist turned anti-nuclear campaigner Andrei Sakharov; the 1985 laureates were International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War; and on the 50th anniversary in 1995 the prize went to the British anti-nuclear campaigner Joseph Rotblat and his Pugwash Group.
The Nobel committee said it had "concentrated on the struggle to diminish the significance of nuclear arms in international politics, with a view to their abolition". That the world "has achieved little in this respect makes active opposition to nuclear arms all the more important today", it added.
Ole Danbolt Mjos, the committee chairman, denied that the decision to honour Dr ElBaradei was a veiled criticism of President Bush. "This is a message to all the people of the world, he said. "Do what you can to get rid of nuclear weapons."
Dr ElBaradei and the IAEA were among a record 199 nominations for the prize. Geir Helljesen, a veteran reporter for Norwegien public television predicted prior to the announcement that Bono would not win the prize alone and that a possible twin prize with Bob Geldof was out of the question simply because Geldof had not been nominated by a February 1st deadline.
Dr ElBaradei, a 63-year-old diplomat, who joined the IAEA in 1984, is almost universally acknowledged as methodical, objective and scrupulously fair. He succeeded Hans Blix as director-general in 1997 and has since piloted the agency through three critical years and crises involving Iraq, North Korea and Iran.
The crisis over Tehran's nuclear ambitions is continuing to escalate, with an IAEA board meeting last month deciding for the first time in two years of dispute to report Iran to the security council.
Dr ElBaradei strongly opposed taking the dispute to New York, fearing that more pressure on Tehran might be counterproductive. He has resisted US pressure to deliver more aggressive statements on the issue, insisting that the jury is still out on whether the Islamic republic has a nuclear weapons programme.