Barack Obama's administration rebuked Norway after he won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, saying it was an awkward honour for an untested leader, a Norwegian diplomat has revealed. Morten Wetland, who served as Norway's ambassador to the UN from 2008 to 2012, described the day of the announcement as his 'most embarrassing at the UN'.
Writing in Norwegian daily Dagens Naeringsliv, Wetland said that his colleague in Washington received a reprimand from Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. 'The word “fawning” was used,' Wetland wrote. The prize, awarded just weeks after Obama took office, put the president in a difficult position, according to the diplomat.
'An American president wants to set his own agenda. Here he was forced into a role that he hadn't sought,' Wetland said. 'It could seem like somebody did this to make Obama visit the country.' The Nobel committee awarded the prize on 9 October 2009 for Obama's 'extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples', while the US was engaged in conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Norway's ambassador to the US at the time, Wegger Stroemmen, could not be reached for comment. Wetland's remarks come amid a recurring debate on the independence and composition of the Nobel committee, whose five members are appointed by the Norwegian parliament but make autonomous decisions. Critics argue that the committee's choices sometimes reflect Norwegian foreign policy.
When Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the prize in 2010, China froze high-level diplomatic contact with Norway. Several voices, including Wetland, are calling for the committee to include foreign members to broaden its scope and highlight its independence.
