Medecins sans Frontieres wins Nobel peace prize

Medecins sans Frontieres, the French aid group, today won the Nobel peace prize for its pioneering work in disaster relief around the world.

The secretive, five-member Nobel Committee said the award to the group, known in English as Doctors Without Borders, recognised its "pioneering humanitarian work on several continents". It was the first Nobel peace prize given solely to an organisation since United Nations peacekeeping forces won in 1988.

"Medecins Sans Frontieres has adhered to the fundamental principle that all disaster victims... have a right to professional assistance, given as quickly and as efficiently as possible," committee chairman Francis Sejersted said in Oslo.

Mr Sejersted praised the group as "fearless and self-sacrificing" and said they showed "each victim had a human face". Founded in 1971, Medecins sans Frontieres calls itself the world's first non-military, non-governmental organisation to specialise in emergency medical assistance. Among its first actions was relief after a 1972 earthquake in Nicaragua. MSF says it is active in 80 countries worldwide.

Before the announcement there was speculation that Chinese dissidents Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan might win the last Nobel of the 20th century, a decision that would have meant a huge embarrassment for the autocrats in Beijing.

By intervening so rapidly in disasters, the Nobel committee said, Medecins sans Frontieres, calls public attention to humanitarian catastrophes. "By pointing to the causes of such catastrophes, the organisation helps to form bodies of public opinion opposed to violations and abuses of power," the committee went on.

"In critical situations, marked by violence and brutality, the humanitarian work of Medecins Sans Frontieres enables the organisation to create openings for contacts between the opposed parties. At the same time, each fearless and self-sacrificing helper shows each victim a human face, stands for respect for that person's dignity, and is a source of hope for peace and reconciliation," the committee said.

Jean-Marie Kindermans, general secretary of Medecins sans Frontieres International, was stuck in a traffic jam on Friday when the Nobel committee tried to call to tell him the aid group had won the 1999 peace prize, named after Sweden's Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.

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