Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe wins China's version of Nobel Peace Prize

Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe has been awarded the Confucius prize, China's version of Nobel Peace Prize on  Thursday October 22 for what the prize committee called his inspired national leadership and service to pan-Africanism.

The prize committee defended its decision in a statement, saying the 91-year old president has "overcome difficulties of all kinds and has strongly committed himself to constructing his nation's political and economic order, while strongly supporting pan-Africanism and African independence."

Mugabe received only 36 of 76 votes, but was awarded the prize following a meeting of the committee's 13-member review board. Other candidates included Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and South Korean President Park Geun-hye.

The Confucius prize was set up in reaction to the Nobel peace prize committee's decision to award imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010.

Past winners of the award include Russian president, Vladimir Putin and Cuban despot Fidel Castro.