Nobel peace announcement welcomed

LONDON, England -- The announcement that the Nobel Peace Prize has been jointly awarded to the United Nations and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been welcomed around the world.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a statement: "Today's announcement is marvellous news and richly deserved.

"No-one and no organisation is more deserving of this prestigious award. And no better time for it to be announced, as we struggle to bring to justice those who struck at the heart of the free world just blocks away from the U.N. headquarters in New York.

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"I have always had the greatest admiration for Kofi Annan. Under his leadership the U.N. has flourished. He is the right man for the job at the right time.

"Whether it is peacekeeping, economic and human development, humanitarian assistance or working for international peace and stability, the U.N. represents not only the best of human endeavour, it represents the international consensus."

India's U.N. ambassador, Kamalesh Sharma told Reuters news agency: "It is a recognition as much of his (Annan's) exceptional leadership as the centrality of the organisation which he leads. It is a recognition of both."

The prize, he said, would make Annan a "real global celebrity, like a rock star," and "so it is good for the United Nations."

British Ambassador Sir Jeremy Greenstock told Reuters: "This man stands for peace just in his very being.

"The integrity and the moral authority is exactly the sort of leadership the world wants in a difficult era."

And South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said: "It is a delicious irony that the African continent, which is riddled with conflict, would now have five Nobel Peace Prize winners, possibly more than any other continent.

"And none of them personifies it more than Kofi Annan, who has been engaged in peacekeeping in one form of another throughout his life," he said.