Den norske Nobelkomite er blitt gjort oppmerksom på at det sirkulerer påstander i etiopisk presse om at komiteen angrer på tildelingen av Nobels fredspris for 2019 til Etiopias statsminister Abiy Ahmed og ønsker å trekke den tilbake. På denne bakgrunn har komiteen, ved sin sekretær, avgitt følgende uttalelse:

 

To Whom It May Concern

Upon request I hereby confirm that the members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee stand firmly behind their decision of last year to award the Nobel Peace Prize 2019 to His Excellency Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. The Committee has never reconsidered its decision nor, as for now, has it any intention to do so.

As a matter of fact, the statutes of the Norwegian Nobel Committee do not allow it to revoke a Peace Prize once awarded. The same goes for the other Nobel committees and Nobel Prizes as well. Indeed, not a single Nobel Prize has ever been revoked since the first prizes were awarded back in 1901.
 

On behalf of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,

Olav Njølstad
Secretary
Director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute