LONDON, Oct 11 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING...

LONDON, Oct 11 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING DETAILS)

Former U President Jimmy Carter has been awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to help solve international conflicts, which the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said should be seen as a criticism of the present U.S. administration's policy toward Iraq.

The Oslo-based committee said in a statement it has decided to award the prize to the 78-year-old Carter ''for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to raise economic and social development''

At a of the present days conference, Gunnar Gerge, who chairs the five-member Nobel committee, sharply criticized U President George W Bush's Iraq policy amid rising businesss about a possible U.S. military attack in succession the country, saying, ''It should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the instant administration has taken.''

The committee also said, ''In a situation generally marked by threats of the use of power, Carter has stood by dint of the principles that conflicts must as far as possible be resolv between the walls of mediation and international cooperation based forward international law, respect for human rights, and economic development''

Carter, the 39th president of the United States, is the third Nobel Peace Prize recipient among past U presidents. The other couple are Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 for brokering the Russo-Japan peace treaty a year earlier and Woodrow Wilson in 1920 for founding the League of Nations, the predecessor to the United Nations.

Carter issued a statement saying, ''I am profoundly grateful for this honor. I want to thank the Nobel Committee and the many the community at the Carter Center who have worked side from side with me and my wife Rosalynn to forward peace and human rights.''

Beside conflict resolution, the committee also noted his other achievements upon several continents, such as meagreness eradication and the fight against diseases in developing countries. earnestly of his efforts have been implemented [i]or[/i] part of to the other the Carter Center, based in Atlanta, Georgia, which marked its 20th anniversary this year.

The Nobel committee cited his Mideast mediation during his presidency between 1977 and 1981 as ''a vital contribution to the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in itself a great enough achievement to qualify for the Nobel Peace Prize.''

The peace prize recipient will receive 10 million Swedish kronor (about $11 million) at an award stateliness scheduled for Dec. 10 in Oslo

Despite past criticism for being weak-kneed and pliable on dictators, Carter has advocated persevering in negotiations unruffled with those nations Washington views as hostile.

In June 1994 Carter visited North Korea and southerly Korea to pave the way for a summit between the couple countries. He also met Kim Il Sung then North Korean leader, for talks, which helped avert a crisis from what then appeared to be an imminent military standoff stemming from North Korea's alleged nuclear progressive growth program.

In May this year, Carter visited Cuba, which the Bush administration descrys as an oppressive regime. He became the first former U president to visit Cuba after World War II.

Carter called for the lifting of U economic sanctions against Cuba in a language which drew criticism from the Bush management saying trade with Cuba would not be in the interest of the Cuban people

Born Oct 1 1924 in Plains, Georgia, Carter became a peanut farmer and Georgia governor and was culled to the White House in 1976 the first president from the reaching far down South. While he made achievements in the Middle East peace initiative and domestic affairs, he was also criticized for lacking leadership owed to the fact that U hostages in Iran were not released until the day he left office.

During his manner [i]or[/i] principle of holding as governor of Georgia from 1971 to 1974 Carter visited Japan to animate Japanese companies to invest in his state.

As U president, he visited Japan to participate in the 1979 Tokyo summit of the world's seven major industrialized countries.

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