Nobel Committee Chooses Next Honoree, Keeps Quiet

The Norwegian awards committee knows who will win the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, but in keeping with a tradition of secrecy, the panel will say nothing until Oct. 16, an official said Friday.

The Oslo-based committee sifted through a record 139 nominations this year, including 114 individuals and 25 organizations.

Geir Lundestad, the committee’s nonvoting secretary, said a decision has been made, but, as usual, Lundestad would not give the slightest hint.

“We have reached a conclusion. Now we will use the days remaining to polish the citation,” Lundestad was quoted as telling the Norwegian news agency NTB.

No clear favorites have emerged for the prize, which includes a $975,000 cash award. NTB, an avid Nobel watcher, said the winner could be linked to the Northern Ireland peace process, or it could be a human rights activist, such as Czech President Vaclav Havel, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the U.N. Human Rights Charter.

The five-member awards committee refuses to release the names of candidates, partly to protect some of them from persecution.

However, sometimes those making nominations announce them.

Such known candidates this year include President Clinton and former President Carter for wide-ranging peace efforts.

Others include Pope John Paul II, Chinese pro-democracy campaigners Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan, the Salvation Army, the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders, and Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. official who brokered the 1995 Dayton, Ohio, peace accord that ended fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina.