Pope John Paul II is Nobel favourite
The ailing 83-year-old pontiff has been outspoken in calling for an end to Israeli-Palestinian fighting. He also lobbied vigorously against the Iraq war in the months and weeks leading up to the US-led invasion.
Web-based betting site Centrebet made Pope John Paul 2-1 favourite ahead of former Czech president Vaclav Havel (8-1) who won this year’s Gandhi Peace Prize. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was listed at 14-1 with Afghan leader Hamid Karzai a 25-1 outsider.
Espen Barth Eide, a former Norwegian deputy foreign minister and now an international affairs expert, said he could see the Pope winning, but only if the prize were shared with a Muslim. “For a prize to honour (Christian-Muslim) dialogue to be meaningful, it has to honour both sides,” said Barth Eide, but he had no idea which Muslim that might be.
The secretive five-member awards committee which made its decision some time ago gives no hints, only saying that a record 165 people and organisations were nominated this year. The prize, which includes a cheque for over 1 million, will be announced in Oslo at 10pm. The committee keeps names of its nominees secret for 50 years. Last year, former US President Jimmy Carter wasn’t seen as a strong candidate, but received the prize. This year, the list includes Silva for trying to overcome social injustice in Brazil, Russian anti-war group Mothers in Black, jailed Iranian dissident Hashem Aghajari, Russian human rights activist Sergei Kovalyev, Italian charity The Community of Sant’ Egidio, the Salvation Army, American politicians Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar for their Co-operative Threat Reduction Programme and Afghan leader Karzai. Other nominees include U2 singer and social activist Bono and Michael Jackson. President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have both been nominated, but no one expects either of them to win.
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