London - Mairead Corrigan Maguire, joint winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize for her efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland, Friday criticized the decision to give this year's award to US President Barack Obama. She described the award decision as "very sad" and accused the Nobel Committee of ignoring the conditions of Alfred Nobel's will, which stipulated that the prize should be given to people "who end militarism and war and are for disarmament."
"President Obama has yet to prove that he will move seriously on the Middle East, that he will end the war in Afghanistan and many other issues," she said, according to a report by Britain's Press Association.
Maguire won the prize under her maiden name of Corrigan with fellow-campaigner Betty Williams after the two women mobilized tens of thousands of people on "peace marches" demanding an end to the terrorist violence that plagued Northern Ireland at the time.
