News of US President Barack Obama's winning the Nobel Peace Prize has drawn mostly positive responses. Among the first to congratulate the US president was South-Africa's former president and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela. Many others followed suit.

The Cuban leader Fidel Castro called the award a "positive measure", designed to criticise "the politics of genocide" pursued by Mr Obama's predecessors. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said he hoped the honour would boost a new climate in international politics and global security. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he hoped the distinction would encourage President Obama to redress injustice in the world.

The award has also drawn criticism. Speaking with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Argentinian Nobel Peace Prize winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel said Mr Obama, despite having good intentions, had so far failed to accomplish anything for world peace. Mr Pérez Esquivel won the award in 1980 in recognition of his fight against the military junta that still ruled Argentina then.
 

Photo: Flickr / jmtimages