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THE
NORWEGIAN NOBEL COMMITTEE
The
Nobel Peace Prize for 1984 |
The
Norwegian Nobel Committee has chosen to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1984
to Bishop Desmond Tutu, General Secretary of
the South African Council of Churches.
The Committee has attached importance to Desmond Tutu's role as a unifying
leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South
Africa. The means by which this campaign is conducted is of vital importance for
the whole of the continent of Africa and for the cause of peace in the world.
Through the award of this year's Peace Prize, the Committee wishes to direct
attention to the non-violent struggle for liberation to which Desmond Tutu
belongs, a struggle in which black and white South Africans unite to bring their
country out of conflict and crisis.
The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to a South African once before, in 1960
when it was awarded to the former president of the African National Congress,
Albert Lutuli. This year's award should be seen as a renewed recognition of the
courage and heroism shown by black South Africans in their use of peaceful
methods in the struggle against apartheid. This recognition is also directed to
all who, throughout the world, use such methods to stand in the vanguard of the
campaign for racial equality as a human right.
It is the Committee's wish that the Peace Prize now awarded to Desmond Tutu
should be regarded not only as a gesture of support to him and to the South
African Council of Churches of which he is leader, but also to all individuals
and groups in South Africa who, with their concern for human dignity, fraternity
and democracy, incite the admiration of the world.
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