FILE: Former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano wins inaugural Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership

Record ID: 722313

  • Title: FILE: Former Mozambique President Joaquim Chissano wins inaugural Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership
  • Date: 22nd October 2007
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF CHISSANO WALKING, THEN STANDING COAT OF ARMS OF MOZAMBIQUE
  • Embargoed: 6th November 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA7ACBDVO5BJP6CVHEEOYT6YI2G
  • Story Text: Mozambique's former president Joaquim Chissano, who stood aside after leading his country to peace and democracy after years of civil war, wins the first Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership.
    Joachim Chissano, the first winner of the inaugural Mo Ibrahim prize, is in many ways the kind of leader Africa needs more of. An unassuming unifier, Chissano was key to the peace that his native Mozabique currently experiences.
    The five million dollar (USD) prize -- the world's largest individual award -- was presented by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a ceremony in London's city hall.
    In 1975 Mozambique won its fight for independence from Portugal. The country's first president. Samora Machel led the country under the ruling National Front for Liberation of Mozambique or (FRELIMO) party.
    In 1976 the country plunged into a sixteen-year civil war between government forces and guerrillas from Mozambique's National Resistance or (RENAMO) group. Samora Machel was killed in a mysterious plane crash in 1986 and his foreign minister, Joachim Chissano, succeeded him as the new president.
    Chissano, a former revolutionary who fought Portuguese colonial rule, served as president of the southern African country from 1986 until 2005, winning praise for his pragmatic policies in a nation once one of the poorest in the world.
    In 1994, Chissano's government signed a ceasefire agreement with RENAMO, which has since become an opposition party.
    His government adopted free trade policies, which have attracted investors from neighbouring countries like South Africa. Her economic growth rate of ten percent is one of the continent's highest with the World Bank describing it as Africa's economic miracle.
    But the country is still one of the world's poorest and critics say that there's need for judicial reforms. Corruption is also a major setback.
    In an exclusive interview with Reuters ahead of 2004 elections Chissano said on leaving office he would try to live a decent life and be available to his country when needed.
    He won acclaim for stepping aside after 18 years in power, when he could have stood for a further five-year term, saying he wanted to create political space for democracy to thrive.
    Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born telecommunications entrepreneur, established the prize as a way of encouraging good governance in a continent blighted by corruption and a frequently loose adherence to democratic principles.
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