Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway (AP) _ Former President Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his ``untiring effort'' to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts and to advance democracy and human

Friday, October 11th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OSLO, Norway (AP) _ Former President Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his ``untiring effort'' to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts and to advance democracy and human rights.

The Nobel committee contrasted Carter's success in finding Middle East peace between Egypt and Israel through diplomacy with the current situation in which President Bush is threatening to use force against Iraq.

``It should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current administration has taken,'' Gunnar Berge, chairman of the Nobel committee, said. ``It's a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the United States.''

The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited Carter's ``vital contribution'' to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt and his efforts in conflict resolution on several continents and the promotion of human rights after his presidency.

``In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation based on international law, respect for human rights, and economic development,'' the citation said.

The award is worth $1 million.

In a statement posted on the Carter Center's Web site, the 39th president said, ``My concept of human rights has grown to include not only the rights to live in peace, but also to adequate health care, shelter, food, and to economic opportunity. I hope this award reflects a universal acceptance and even embrace of this broad-based concept of human rights.''

Earlier, Carter told CNN that when he left the White House he decided to ``capitalize on the influence I had as the former president of the greatest nation of the world and decided to fill vacuums.'' Carter refused to comment on Bush's Iraq policy.

The 78-year-old Carter has said his most significant work has been through the Carter Center, an ambitious, Atlanta-based think tank and activist policy center he and wife Rosalynn founded in 1982 and which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

Perhaps his crowning achievement as president was the peace treaty he negotiated as president between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Premier Menachem Begin. Carter kept them at the Camp David presidential retreat for 13 days in 1978 to reach the accord, and Sadat and Begin shared the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel committee said Carter, who was in the White House from 1977 to 1981, did not share in the prize because he was not nominated in time.

The five-member committee made its decision last week after months of secret deliberations as it sought the right message for a world still dazed by the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the war on terrorism that followed and concern about a possible U.S. military strike against Iraq.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, considered a contender for the prize, said Carter deserved it.

``He had many, many years of work for peace in a very concerted way, in a very human way, and I congratulate him. He deserved it better than I, and he won it, and I'll try for next year,'' he said at his presidential palace in Kabul.

Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio said the prize was ``a just reward'' and ``wholly deserved.'' He singled out Carter's efforts to find a peaceful solution for East Timor, a former Portuguese colony annexed by Indonesia.

Carter, a Democrat and former Georgia governor, rose from life as a small-town peanut farmer to the nation's presidency in 1976 after a campaign that stressed honesty in the wake of the Watergate controversy.

But he returned home after a landslide loss to Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980, his candidacy undermined by double-digit inflation, an energy crunch that forced Americans to wait in line for gasoline, and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran.

Carter overcame the voter repudiation and has doggedly pursued a role on the world stage as a peacemaker and champion of democracy and human rights.

He helped defuse growing nuclear tensions in Korea, then helped narrowly avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti in 1994, as well as leading conflict mediation and elections monitoring efforts around the world.

``In a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolved through mediation and international co-operation based on international law, respect for human rights, and economic development,'' the citation said.

Last year's award was shared by the United Nations and its secretary-general, Kofi Annan.

The peace prize announcement capped a week of Nobel prizes after the awards for literature, medicine, physics, chemistry and economics were announced in Sweden's capital, Stockholm.

The Norwegian Nobel committee received a record 156 nominations _ 117 individuals and 39 groups _ by the Feb. 1 deadline. The list remains secret for 50 years, but those who nominate sometimes announce their choice.

Many known nominees, including former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, reflected the 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and their aftermath.

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were nominated, but their chances for winning seemed doubtful at a time when they are poised to launch a military strike against Iraq.

The first Nobel Peace Prize, in 1901, honored Jean Henry Dunant, the Swiss founder of the Red Cross.

The prizes were created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel in his will and always are presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of his 1896 death.