Former Cape Verde President Pires Wins the 2011 Mo Ibrahim Prize

By Staff Writer

Former Cape Verde President Pedro Verona Pires has been announced the winner of the 2011 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership Monday by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an organisation that supports good governance and leadership in Africa.
 
Pedro Verona Pires won praise for announcing that he would step down at the end of his second term, dismissing suggestions that the constitution be altered to allow him to stand again.

Announcing the 2011 Ibrahim Laureate, Salim Ahmed Salim, the Chair of the Prize Committee, said: “The Prize Committee has been greatly impressed by President Pedro Pires’s vision in transforming Cape Verde into a model of democracy, stability and increased prosperity. Under his ten years as President, the nation became only the second African country to graduate from the United Nation’s Least Developed category and has won international recognition for its record on human rights and good governance.”

Born in 1934, Mr Pires attended Lisbon's University of Sciences, but was recalled home to take up military duties before he completed his studies.

He was elected the third president of Cape Verde on April 25, 200 and left power last August.

The Ibrahim Prize is the largest annually awarded prize in the world, consisting of US$5 million over 10 years and US$200,000 annually for life thereafter. The Foundation will consider granting a further US$200,000 per year for ten years towards public interest activities and good causes espoused by the Laureate.

The Ibrahim Prize marks its fifth anniversary this year, as an initiative to support great African leadership. The 2011 Ibrahim Laureate was selected by the Prize Committee of seven eminent individuals. The Prize Committee assesses democratically elected former Executive Heads of State or Government from sub-Saharan African countries who served their term in office within the limits set by their country’s constitution and left office within the last three years.

Joaquim Chissano, the former President of Mozambique, became the inaugural Ibrahim Laureate in October 2007. The Prize Committee’s citation praised President Chissano’s “achievements in bringing peace, reconciliation, stable democracy and economic progress to his country.”

Nelson Mandela was made an Honorary Laureate in 2007, in recognition of his extraordinary leadership qualities and achievements.

The following year, Festus Mogae, the former President of Botswana, became the second Ibrahim Laureate.  The Prize Committee’s citation praised President Mogae’s stewardship of the Botswanan economy, stating: “Botswana demonstrates how a country with natural resources can promote sustainable development with good governance, in a continent where too often mineral wealth has become a curse.”

In 2009 and 2010 the Prize Committee considered some credible candidates but, after in-depth review, could not select a winner.