The Mo Ibrahim Prize will go to Joaquim Chissano, the former president of Mozambique who served from 1986 to 2005 and helped to end that country's civil war and oversaw the transition to peace. The list of finalists, in addition to Chissano, included:
Benjamin William Mkapa (Tanzania)
Domitien Ndayizeye (Burundi)
Sam Nujoma (Namibia)
El-Hadj Bonfoh Abbass (Togo)
Gnassingbe Eyadema (Togo)
Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya (Mauritania)
Elson Bakili Muluzi (Malawi)
Azali Assoumani (Comoros)
Abdiqassim Salad Hassan (Somalia)
Mathieu Kerekou (Benin)
Albert Rene (Seychelles)
Henrique Rosa (Guinea-Bissau)
Chissano is not an uncontroversial choice. His son has been implicated in the death of journalist Carlos Cardoso, a progressive Mozambican journalist who was murdered in 2000, though Joaquim Chissano has never been connected to the death of the journalist who was often critical of his administration.
