Nonagerian Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has been awarded this years Confucius Peace Prize, 'a would-be Chinese rival to the Nobel Peace Prize.
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| President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe |
The founder of the little-known China International Peace Studies Centre, Qiao Damo, told AFP that Mugabe had been recognised for his 'outstanding contributions' to world peace.
Mr. Mugabe, who has often been accused of human right abuses beat nine other finalist, including Bill Gates, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, and South Korean President Park Geun-Hye to the honour worth 500,000 yuan ($80,000).
The Confucius prize emerged in 2010 as a Chinese response to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel award, which infuriated Beijing.
Mugabe — who has had a close relationship with Beijing for decades — joins an eclectic roster of past winners, which includes Vladimir Putin and Fidel Castro as well as more mainstream figures such as Kofi Annan.
Back home in Zimbabwe opposition parties are already slamming the Prize organisers for the peace award bestowed on Mr. Mugabe....
Writing on Zimbabwe’s Bulawayo24 news site, Gorden Moyo, secretary-general of the People’s Democratic Party, a Zimbabwean opposition party led by former finance minister Tendai Biti, described the award as “insanity”.“Mugabe as we know him and as the people of Zimbabwe have experienced his reign is a war-monger, a bellicosist and a sadist who delights in the misery of the people,” he said.The prize organisers, he added, “should hang their heads in shame for rewarding murderers who masquerade as peace makers”.
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