Top honour for Obama draws cheers and jeers world over

OSLO/NEW YORK: The surprise Nobel Peace Prize for US president Barack Obama on Friday drew criticism as well as praise. The award also had many puzzled Americans scratching their heads.

The decision to bestow one of the world���s top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, provoked gasps of surprise from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.

While the Nobel committe���s decision won praise from statesmen like Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev , both former Nobel laureates, it was also attacked , especially in parts of the Arab and Muslim world, as hasty and undeserved.

The Palestinian Hamas movement, which controls the Gaza Strip and opposes a peace treaty with Israel, said the award was premature at best. ���Obama only made promises and did not contribute any substance to world peace,��� said Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri.

Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami party in Pakistan, called the award an embarrassing ���joke��� .
But the chief Palestinian peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, welcomed the award to Obama and expressed hope that ���he will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East���.

Zimbabwean PM Morgan Tsvangirai, who had been tipped as a favourite for the prize, said Obama was a deserving candidate and an ���extraordinary example���.

In US where Obama���s popularity is flagging, people were left puzzled. ���It would be wonderful if I could think why he won,��� said Claire Sprague, a retired teacher in Manhattan.

���The guy hasn���t solved any conflict anywhere so how can he win the peace prize? But if we don���t reelect him the next go around we will all look like idiots because the world has anointed him,��� said Robert Schultz, 62, a retired civil servant , in Dallas.

Patil, Sonia, Manmohan hail Obama

President Pratibha Patil, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and PM Manmohan Singh have congratulated US president Barack Obama for being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Sonia Gandhi has also written a letter to Obama congratulating him. In his congratulatory note, PM Manmohan Singh said the citation reflected Obama���s ���personal qualities of leadership��� and the ���new perspectives that you have brought to bear on the conduct of relations between different countries and cultures, and on some of the most burning issues of our times��� .

9 months to Nobel

In awarding the peace prize, the Nobel committee, it seems, had the audacity to hope that Obama will eventually produce a record worthy of the award.

The road so far

November

Obama beats Republican rival John McCain to become the first black US president

January

Bans torture and other extreme interrogation techniques for terrorists. Promises to close Guantanamo Bay prison

April

Launches a plan to create a world free of nuclear arms. Says US would cut N-stockpile , urges others to follow

June

Says extremists have exploited tensions between Muslims and the West, and that Islam is not part of the problem but part of promoting peace

July

Tells African nations that Western aid must be matched by good governance

September

In his first address to the UN General Assembly, presses world leaders to help confront challenges ranging from the war on terror to N-standoffs

September

Chairs a historic meeting of the UN Security Council, which approves a US-drafted resolution calling on nuclear weapons states to scrap their arsenals

October

Signs executive order asking US govt to lead by example on climate change, requiring all federal agencies to set 2020 targets to cut greenhouse gas emissions within 90 days

The bumpy road ahead

Afghanistan

Tough decision at hand whether more US troops must be lost to win Afghan war. 800 lives lost since the 2001 invasion. Pulling out is not an option

Pakistan

How to ensure the nuclear-armed country is a safe and reliable ally against terrorism. Pak military leaders are questioning the $1.5 bn aid package a year as potentially meddlesome

Iran

Finding a way to deter Tehran from taking the final steps in production of nuclear weapons

Mideast

Lurking in the background is the unresolved Mideast conflict. In his speech to the UN, Obama said that Israelis and Palestinians should relaunch negotiations

Some bright spots

Iraq

Obama is overseeing a faster-than-expected withdrawal of US troops from Iraq with a decline in violence

North Korea

Kim Jong-il has offered to resume nuclear disarmament negotiations

China

Bilateral ties on an upward climb with Beijing playing a leading role, for instance, in trying to get North Korean talks started again

Russia

Decision to shelve positioning of a missile shield in the Czech Republic and Poland has improved ties