Oslo, October 08: Yemeni Tawakkul Karman, one of three women awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, said she had dedicated her unexpected win to all activists of the Arab Spring.
“I dedicate it to all the activists of the Arab Spring,” Karman told Al-Arabiya Television, refering to protesters who took to the streets in several Arab countries demanding democracy.
“I am very happy. I didn’t expect this at all,” she said, adding that “the project for freedom and dignity has become a reality.”
“This is an honour for all the Arabs, Muslims and women,” said the woman who has become a leading figure in the months-long nationwide-protests against Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“We are heading towards a beautiful future for our nation,” added the 32-year-old Karman, who has been holed in Sanaa’s protest encampment for around four month, in fear of being hunted by the partisans of the veteran leader.
“We will work to reach all our (protest) goals, not short of one,” she added.
The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen for their work on women’s rights, which the prize committee described as fundamental to the spread of peace around the world.
By citing Karman, the committee also appeared to be acknowledging the effects of the Arab Spring, which has challenged authoritarian regimes across the region.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the three women “for their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”.
“We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,” the prize committee said.
Prominent female leaders, rights groups and international organizations all hailed the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to three women who have fought for women’s rights.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called it a “wise decision.”
Prize committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said he hoped the prize would bring more attention to rape and other violence against women as well as women’s role in promoting democracy in Africa and the Arab and Muslim world.
Johnson Sirleaf, 72, is a Harvard-trained economist who became Africa’s first democratically elected female president in 2005.
Liberia was ravaged by civil wars for years until 2003 and is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of UN peacekeepers.
Sirleaf was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia when she took office.
She is running for reelection this month and opponents in the presidential campaign have accused her of buying votes and using government funds to campaign.
–Agencies