1:32pm UK, Friday October 09, 2009

Barack Obama has said he is “humbled” after being announced as a surprise winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Obama has called for a reduction in the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons

The Norwegian Nobel Committee selecting him for the honour despite the US president being in office for less than a year.

The actual announcement in Oslo even drew audible gasps from some onlookers.

The committee praised Obama’s “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”.

Obama has called for disarmament and worked to restart the stalled Middle East peace process since taking office in January.

The committee said: “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.

“His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.”

The committee said it attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work towards a world without nuclear weapons.

The choice makes Obama the third sitting US president to win the peace prize and his administration officials said he was “humbled”.

While his name had been mentioned in speculation before the award, many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to reward him.

Karzai: Obama ‘appropriate’ winner

The Taliban condemned the decision, saying Obama had “not taken a single step towards peace in Afghanistan”.

Although Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai said Obama was the “appropriate” person to win the prize.

Sky’s foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said: “There will be people who will say this is a marvellous, inspired, award.

“But next year let’s give it to Miss World. Every year Miss World comes on and says I want world peace and the world free of nuclear weapons. It’s a hope, an aspiration.

“The deadline for nominations for the peace prize was February 1, so someone nominated the President of America for his achievements 11 days into his presidency.

Barroso: ‘Safer world’

“This is a Nobel Peace Prize for not being George Bush. And I think it has been devalued.”

Nonetheless, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said it would encourage people hoping to build a safer world.

And the UN’s nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei said he was “absolutely delighted”.

Sky’s Middle East correspondent Dominic Waghorn said there was a sense of disbelief among the people he had spoken to about the award.

“Some have said you shouldn’t win awards for trying,” he explained.

“He hasn’t achieved anything yet, at least in the Middle East, which is central to his philosophy of trying to bring America and the Muslim world back together.

“He has tried but a lot of people here believe he’s made matters worse.”

The prize, worth $1.4m (£880,000), will be handed over in Oslo on December 10.