2009 Nobel Peace Prize "As President Hugo Chávez said at the United Nations, (the Obama administration) is a government that has raised expectations and hopes in many people in the world, amid great contradictions." In Africa, the news of the Obama Nobel Peace Prize was positively received. Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki issued a statement saying that the prize was a "recognition of the contribution [Obama is] making for the well being of humanity." In South Africa, President Jacob Zuma used "Ubuntu"—the Zulu term for "the importance of community"—in his congratulatory message, saying that the U.S. president's "leadership reflects the true spirit of Ubuntu because
2012 Nobel Peace Prize the European Union. The 1984, 1976 and 1980 laureates stated in an open letter to the Nobel Foundation, based in Sweden, that in their view the EU stood for "... security based on military force and waging wars rather than insisting on the need for an alternative approach" and that "... the Norwegian Nobel Committee has redefined and reshaped the prize in a way that is not in accordance with the law". The International Peace Bureau, which won the prize in 1910, and several peace activists, writers and lawyers also signed the letter. The signatories demanded that the Nobel Foundation