ZIMBABWE — HARARE – Zimbabwe's MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai appears a front-runner to win the Nobel Peace Prize next month for his commitment to peaceful political change in Zimbabwe despite provocation by the military junta running the country.

 

Tsvangirai, who was also this week among the candidates for the EU Parliament's 2008 Sakharov prize, together with the Dalai Lama, is tipped by experts and odds-makers as a possible winner.

 

 

The winner of the 2008 peace prize will be announced next month. The committee that awards the USD1.5 million prize money often confounds pundits.

Tsvangirai, who has struggled to restrain his supporters amid a brutal State-sanctioned crackdown and also remained resolute in his commitment for peaceful political change in Zimbabwe, is heavily tipped to clinch the award, making history for Zimbabwe which has never had a Nobel Peace laureate.

 

 

 

 

Talk of Tsvangirai's contention for the peace prize comes as the MDC leader was named among contenders for the prestigious EU Parliament award for courage.

ZimDaily understands that the EU Parliament's Foreign Affairs will narrow down the list to three on September 22 before the winner is chosen in mid-October and the prize presented in a Strasbourg plenary session on December 16.

The 2008 Sakharov Prize, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, marks the twentieth year it has been awarded and all previous winners will be invited to attend the presentation in December.

Among the previous winners are former South African leader Nelson Mandela, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and ex-UN secretary general Kofi Anan.

ZimDaily heard that Tsvangirai's Nobel Peace prize would fall under the expanded concept of peace and with the ongoing power-sharing talks, the award would be timely.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prize, is expected to meet to choose the winner at the end of this month.

 

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