OSLO, Oct 11: The award of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize to former US president Jimmy Carter for his conflict-solving efforts was also a “criticism of the position” of the current US administration, the head of the Nobel committee said on Friday, sparking controversy even among his colleagues.

Gunnar Berge, chairman of the Nobel Committee, told reporters that honouring Carter “can also be interpreted as a criticism of the position” of the administration of President George W. Bush.

However Committee member Inger Marie Ytterhorn, who is close to Norway’s right-wing populist party FRP, was quick to dissociated herself from the comment.

“The way I see it, that was not the intention of the Committee,” she told NRK radio.

Berge also said that the prize decision was a signal “to all the other countries which have adopted the same position” as the United States.

Ytterhorn said Berge’s comments showed that he “lacks professionalism”.

Another Committee member, Hanna Kvamo, who is close to the Socialist party, also declined to back Berge. “In the committee we did not discuss what interpretation should be given” to the Carter award, she said.

However, a third member of the body, the Bishop of Oslo, Gunnar Staalsett, came to Berge’s rescue.

“There is no reason at all to criticize Berge over this business. He is well within his role when he says what he said,” the bishop, who is close to the centrist party, was quoted by Internet journal Nettavisen as saying.

The choice of Carter for the prize “should absolutely be read” as a criticism of the Bush administration, even if the desire to criticize “was not the motivation” for awarding the prize to Carter, the bishop added.

There was a voice of protest from within the Norwegian government, with Foreign Minister Jan Petersen saying he was “a little surprised” by the judges’ stated motives.—AFP