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Norwegians tip rock star Bono for Nobel Peace Prize
DPA

Oslo, Sep 29 (DPA) Irish rock star Bono is being tipped as a hot contender for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, Norway's NTB news agency reported 10 days before the winner is due to be announced in Oslo.

Norway's International Peace Research Institute (PRIO) considers Bono to be one of the three most likely candidates to receive the prestigious award, the agency reported.

Finnish former president Martti Ahtisaari and US politicians Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar are also deemed hot favourites by PRIO director Stein Tonnesson, the report said.

For several years Bono has been nominated for the prize because of his work in achieving debt forgiveness for developing countries.

Finland's Ahtisaari has distinguished himself as a mediator in the war-torn Indonesian province of Aceh.

Nunn and Lugar have also been nominated for several years running because of their campaign for the safe disposal of nuclear weapons in former Soviet republics.

The 199 official candidates, of which 36 are organisations, include German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, former US secretary of state Colin Powell, Russian human rights lawyer Sergej Kowaljow, former Czech president Vaclav Havel, Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

The decision of the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee will be announced in Oslo on Oct 7.

Last year, Kenyan human rights lawyer and environmentalist Wangari Maathai became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.