Trump nominated for Nobel peace prize amid racial tension in US

US President Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel peace prize.

According to Fox News on Wednesday, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, a member of the Norwegian parliament, submitted Trump’s name for the award for helping to broker the Israel-UAE peace deal.

Trump’s nomination comes amid racial tension and violence in the US.

In May, there was an outbreak of protests across US states after the killing of George Floyd, a black American man, by some officers of the Minneapolis police department (MPD).

The protests turned violent in some cities and persisted for weeks. There have been other reported race-linked killings of black Americans by the police since Floyd.

In his letter to the Nobel committee on his nomination of the US president, the chairman of the Norwegian delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly, said the Trump administration has played a key role in the establishment of relations between Israel and the UAE.

“For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other Peace Prize nominees,” Tybring-Gjedde said.

“As it is expected other Middle Eastern countries will follow in the footsteps of the UAE, this agreement could be a game changer that will turn the Middle East into a region of cooperation and prosperity.

Tybring-Gjedde, who praised Trump in his letter, said he played a “key role in facilitating contact between conflicting parties and… creating new dynamics in other protracted conflicts, such as the Kashmir border dispute between India and Pakistan, and the conflict between North and South Korea, as well as dealing with the nuclear capabilities of North Korea”.

The US president was also commended for withdrawing a large number of troops from the Middle East.

“Indeed, Trump has broken a 39-year-old streak of American Presidents either starting a war or bringing the United States into an international armed conflict. The last president to avoid doing so was Peace Prize laureate Jimmy Carter,” Tybring-Gjedde said.

In 2018, the four-term member of Norwegian parliament also nominated Trump after the US president’s summit with Kim Jong Un, North Korean leader.

But Trump did not win the award.

Over 300 individuals and organisations have been nominated for the 2020 award, the winner of which will be announced in October.

Nominations may be submitted by any person who fits the criteria, and the Nobel organisation does not formally announce a list of nominees until after 50 years have elapsed.

Barack Obama, Trump’s predecessor, won the coveted international award in 2009.