Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was on 22 October 2015 awarded with the 2015 Confucius Peace Prize by China for supposedly injecting fresh energy into the global quest for harmony. The Prize is dubbed as Chinese equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize.
He was awarded for overcoming a number of difficulties and for contributing to building the government, economy and order in the country while continuing to work at the age of 91 actively for African peace.
Mugabe is the founding leader of Zimbabwe and has ruled the country since it gained independence in 1980 from United Kingdom. He was elected as Prime Minister in 1980 and served in that office till 1987. He became Zimbabwe’s first President in December 1987 and since then he is serving in the office.
In January 2015, he was appointed as Chairman of African Union (AU). However, in his 35 years of grip on power, he has often been seen caught in controversies. He has been criticised over allegations of corruption and his poor record on human rights. He is also blamed for a series of massacres in the 1980s and 1990s in which tens of thousands of civilians and opposition soldiers were killed.
About Confucius Peace Prize
• The prize was established in 2010 by China’s Communist Government after it was angered by Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
• It is bestowed for promotion of world peace from the 21st-century interpretation of Confucianism i.e. universal harmony in the world.
• The prize comes with an award of 500000 Yuan and a gold trophy of the ancient Chinese philosopher whose name it takes.
• Previous Recipients of the award are Vladimir Putin (2011), Kofi Annan and Yuan Longping (2012) and Fidel Castro (2014).
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