Ethiopian Premier Dr Abiy Ahmed

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed has received his Nobel Prize award for his efforts for resolving the conflict with Eritrea.

Dr. Abiy Ahmed was announced the winner of the Nobel Prize award in October this year.

The award also honors him for his efforts peace and international cooperation”.

He received his award worth $900,000 in the Norwegian capital, Olso, on Tuesday afternoon.

In the region, Abiy initiated the first face to face dialogue between President Salva Kiir and Dr. Riek Machar after the 2016 violence.

He is accredited of enabling Kiir and Machar to renegotiate the 2015 peace deal, resulting into the signing of the revitalized peace agreement in 2018 in Khartoum.

In Sudan, following months of protest, Dr. Abiy mediated talks between the Sudanese Military Council and the civilian protestors following months of unrest that led to the overthrow of President Omar al Bashir.

Dr. Abiy Ahmed shared his dividends for peace during the award ceremony while delivering his speech.

“Peace is an affair of the heart, peace is a labor of love, sustaining peace is hard work and yet we must cherish and nurture it,” Dr Abiy said at the ceremony.

“It takes few to make war, but it takes a village and a nation to build peace. Peace requires good faith to blossom into prosperity, security and opportunity in the same manner trees absorb carbon dioxide to give us life and oxygen.”

However, there have been differing views on the leadership of Dr Abiy, who hails from the Oromo group, the country’s largest ethnic group which spearheaded mass anti-government protests that forced his predecessor, Hailemariam Desalegn, to step down.

As Ethiopia gears up for crucial general elections next year, the picture on the domestic front is far from rosy, reported Aljazeera on Monday.

Ethnic violence has been on the rise since Abiy came to power, while local government and security sharply deteriorated, according to HRW.

More than two million people are currently internally displaced across the country due to conflict, including 1.4 million in the first half of 2018, more than anywhere else globally, the rights group said in April.