UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "wholeheartedly congratulates" US President Barack Obama, winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Barack Obama

In a statement, the Secretary-General says Mr. Obama "embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world's biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament and a wide range of peace and security challenges."

On Friday, the Nobel Prize committee bestowed the award on the US President "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency has also welcomed the announcement.

Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says he was "absolutely delighted" at the decision.

"In less than a year, he galvanized the world. For the first time, everybody has hope that we might be able to establish a world at peace with itself; that we might be able to have a system that is not based on nuclear weapons, a system of security that is inclusive, that is humane. But more than that, he is committed to restore moral decency into our lives, into our relations with each other as individuals, as nations."

He says US President Obama "has brought a new vision of a world based on human decency, fairness and freedom which is an inspiration to us all."

Dianne Penn, United Nations Radio
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