Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize Award ceremony

The Prize will be presented to President Hollande by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova. Several presidents of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and countries of the Sahel region will attend the ceremony: Thomas Boni Yayi, President of Benin; Blaise Compaoré, President Burkina Faso; Alassane Ouattara, President of Côte d’Ivoire; Dioncounda Traoré, President of Mali; Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, President of Mauritania; Mahamadou Issoufou, President of Niger; Idriss Déby Itno, President of Chad; and Macky Sall, President of Senegal. President Hollande is expected to deliver a keynote address on this occasion.

The Jury of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize on 21 February decided to honour the President of France “for his great contribution to peace and stability in Africa.”

The Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, created in 1989, is intended to honour individuals or organizations that have made a significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO.

Former laureates of the Prize include Nelson Mandela and Frederik W. De Klerk; Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat; King Juan Carlos of Spain; and former President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva