Jon Halvorsen reports from Norway: Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10--United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today accepted the centennial Nobel Peace Prize and set three key goals
for the U.N. in the next century: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict and promoting democracy.

"Only in a world that is rid of poverty can all men and women make the most of their abilities," he said. "Only where individual rights are respected can differences be channelled politically and resolved
peacefully. Only in a democratic environment, based on respect for diversity and dialogue, can individual self-expression and self-government be secured, and freedom of association be upheld."

A typically gray Oslo winter morning had given way to brilliant sunshine as Annan prepared to receive the prize at 1 p.m. in Oslo's City Hall, which looks out over the harbor of the Norwegian capital. The timing
was perfect for the several thousand Norwegian children who gathered outside, singing and laughing.

By tradition, they present the Nobel laureate each December with a peace torch sponsored by Save the Children Norway, part of the International Save the Children Alliance. Annan and the United Nations itself share the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize "for their work for a better
organized and more peaceful world."

The secretary-general's audience of 1,000 in the packed City Hall included two dozen previous Nobel Peace Prize laureates. They had just concluded a two-day symposium on the prize, which was first
presented in 1901. Awarded by a committee appointed by
the Norwegian parliament, it is always presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel.

Annan both began and concluded his remarks by asking his listeners to think about the fate of a girl born today in Afghanistan. "Her mother will hold her and feed her, comfort her and care for her--just as any
mother would anywhere in the world.... But to be born a girl in today's Afghanistan is to begin life centuries away from the prosperity that one small part of humanity has achieved. It is to live under conditions that many of us in this hall would consider inhuman."

Returning to the child at the very end of his speech, Annan said that despite her mother's best efforts, "there is a one-in-four risk that this girl will not live to see her fifth birthday. Whether she does is just one test of our common humanity--of our belief in our individual responsibility for our fellow men and women. But it is the only test that matters."

Less than 24 hours after Annan spoke, an enterprising photographer took apicture of a newborn baby girl in Afghanistan. The photograph of her was then transmitted to Annan's staff in Oslo, and newspaper photographers there took a picture of a smiling Kofi Annan holding her picture. The caption beneath the picture of the newborn read: "Annan's baby girl. Kabul: Today: 1:45."

-- Jon Halvorsen, Macalester Today

Kofi Annan Bio:

Born: April 8, 1938, Kumasi, Ghana

Macalester years: fall 1959 to spring 1961, on Ford Foundation program that places foreign nationals in U.S. Colleges and universities

Macalester activities: state champion orator; member of 1960 track team which won MIAC championships; president of Cosmopolitan Club, which promoted friendship between U.S. and international students and more.

United Nations: elected seventh secretary-general in December 1996 and again in July 2001. Awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.