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Candidates Galore for Nobel Peace Prize
Thursday, October 10, 2002
(15:33 [GMT +1:00])
By Nina Berglund
Aftenposten English Web Desk

Other nominees include former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for his leadership during last year's terrorist attacks, the Salvation Army for its work with the poor all over the world, Falun Gong founder Li Hongzhi, and former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Norway's Nobel Peace Prize committee has reviewed the qualifications of 156 candidates for this year's prestigious award. The winner will be announced on Friday.

Top candidates range from Pope Johannes Paul II to Fidel Castro and the International Red Cross. All told, 117 individuals and 39 organizations have been nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

Jan Egeland, a longtime diplomat who now serves as head of the Norwegian Red Cross, told newspaper Aftenposten that he thinks the Red Cross is the most worthy candidate. The Peace Prize "would be a great stimulant and a worthy acknowledgement of the work done all the time by Red Cross workers in all of the world's conflicts," Egeland said. The Red Cross, he said, "saves lives every day."

Egeland has personally worked in 12 different wartime areas and peace negotiations, not least as one of the architects of the so-called "Oslo Agreement" hammered out between the Israelis and Palestinians in the early 1990s. "It's not often that those who do the bravest, least selfish and most dangerous work get the most recognition," he said.

* Nunn and Lugar?
* Rudy in the running
(More: Aftenposten.no News Source)
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Dan