MaxShimba
JF-Expert Member
- Apr 11, 2008
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PARIS He has been praised as a war chief in Mali. Now, French President Francois Hollande has been awarded a U.N.-sponsored peace prize barely a year into his presidency and just months after launching his first war against Islamic extremists.
The prize givers and African leaders attending Wednesdays awards ceremony, including Malian president Dioncounda Traore, say Hollande deserves UNESCOs Felix Houphouet-Boigny prize precisely because they say the Mali intervention is about long-term peace for a volatile region.
But continued violence in northern Mali, terrorist attacks in neighboring Niger and the extremists flight to troubled Libya underline the challenges of making that work.
It may seem paradoxical to be awarded for peace after assuming responsibility for war, Hollande said in his speech at UNESCOs headquarters in Paris. But the decision I made on behalf of France had no other purpose than to end an aggression.
Read more: French president awarded a peace prize, after leading a war in Mali - The Washington Post
The prize givers and African leaders attending Wednesdays awards ceremony, including Malian president Dioncounda Traore, say Hollande deserves UNESCOs Felix Houphouet-Boigny prize precisely because they say the Mali intervention is about long-term peace for a volatile region.
But continued violence in northern Mali, terrorist attacks in neighboring Niger and the extremists flight to troubled Libya underline the challenges of making that work.
It may seem paradoxical to be awarded for peace after assuming responsibility for war, Hollande said in his speech at UNESCOs headquarters in Paris. But the decision I made on behalf of France had no other purpose than to end an aggression.
Read more: French president awarded a peace prize, after leading a war in Mali - The Washington Post
