Nobel first for African

The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize accepted her award yesterday to the beat of drums and the colourful sight of three dancers.

In a lively ceremony in Oslo, Sweden, that broke with stuffy tradition, Kenyan environmentalist Wangar Maathai warned that if the environment was not protected, peace would forever remain endangered.

"We are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system," she said.

The 64-year-old activist was awarded the Nobel gold medal and diploma that accompanies the $1.99 million prize.

Professor Maathai's selection by the five-member Nobel Committee raised eyebrows because of statements she reportedly made asserting that AIDS was a laboratory-created ailment.

She allegedly said the disease was created by the West to destroy Africans.

Professor Maathai said her comments were misquoted and taken out of context.

She was honoured for founding the Green Belt Movement, which has sought to empower women, improve the environment and fight corruption in Africa for nearly 30 years.

A deputy environment minister in the Kenyan Government, she won acclaim for her campaign to plant 30 million trees in Africa.

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