Abiy responds to Trump’s Nobel complaint

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has responded after US President Donald Trump appeared to take credit for Mr Abiy’s Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr Abiy said he did not have “any clue about the criteria, how the Nobel Committee select an individual for the prize”.

So he said that if Mr Trump wanted to complain he must go to the Nobel Committee in Oslo.

VIDEO: After US President Donald Trump said that he believes he deserves the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, Abiy Ahmed, the winner and Ethiopian Prime Minister replied: “If Donald Trump wants to complain, he should go to Oslo, not Ethiopia”

“I’m not working for the prize, I am working for peace, a very critical thing for our region,” he added.

Mr Abiy was replying to a reporter’s question in South Africa’s capital Pretoria.

In October last year, Mr Abiy was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize after he signed deal with Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki to end the “state of war” between the two nations.

But in an election rally, Mr Trump implied he should have got the Nobel Peace Prize.

He said:Quote Message: I’m going to tell you about the Nobel Peace Prize, I’ll tell you about that. I made a deal, I saved a country, and I just heard that the head of that country is now getting the Nobel Peace Prize for saving the country. I said: ‘What, did I have something to do with it?’ Yeah, but you know, that’s the way it is. As long as we know, that’s all that matters… I saved a big war, I’ve saved a couple of them.”

I’m going to tell you about the Nobel Peace Prize, I’ll tell you about that. I made a deal, I saved a country, and I just heard that the head of that country is now getting the Nobel Peace Prize for saving the country. I said: ‘What, did I have something to do with it?’ Yeah, but you know, that’s the way it is. As long as we know, that’s all that matters… I saved a big war, I’ve saved a couple of them.”

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Although he did not name the Nobel Peace Prize winner or the country, it is clear that Mr Trump was referring to Mr Abiy as he is the only head of state to have received the award since Mr Trump was elected in 2016.

BBC News