ALEXANDRIA: Former Mozambique president Joachim Chissano will accept a $5 million prize for his role in helping end 16 years of civil war in one of the world’s poorest countries at a ceremony here Monday.
Chissano, who was president from 1986 to 2005, will be the first recipient of the Mo Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership at a gala ceremony in this Mediterranean city attended by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
Former South African president Nelson Mandela will make a recorded address to the ceremony, the organizers said, while former US president Bill Clinton will send a congratulatory message to Chissano which will be read out at the gala.
The 68-year-old leader is widely credited with helping end a bloody civil war in the east African country which killed at least one million people and displaced millions of others.
“It is (for) his role in leading Mozambique from conflict to peace and democracy that Chissano has made his most outstanding contribution, Annan said when the prize was announced last month.
“The prize celebrates more than just good governance. It celebrates leadership; the ability to formulate a vision and to convince others of that vision, he added.
The award gives its recipient $5 million over 10 years and $200,000 annually for life thereafter, as well as $200,000 a year for 10 years towards the winner’s public interest activities and good causes.
A former Portuguese colony, Mozambique gained independence in 1975, but was torn by civil war between the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and the Mozambique National Resistance (RENAMO), until a peace accord in 1992.
Chissano, one of the few African leaders to have voluntarily stepped down from office, was appointed by the African Union in 2005 to try to help solve Zimbabwe’s political problems but President Robert Mugabe rejected him as mediator.
