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Ex-leader to get $5m Africa prize Botswana's Mogae wins $5m prize
(40 minutes later)
An African leader who has left power in the past three years is to be awarded a $5m prize to encourage good governance. Botswana's former President Festus Mogae has won a $5m (£2.8m) prize to encourage good governance in Africa.
Possible winners include the ex-leaders of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo; Sierra Leone, Tejan Kabbah; Botswana, Festus Mogae and Tanzania, Benjamin Mkapa. He stepped down earlier this year after serving two terms in office.
Botswana is Africa's most stable countries - it has never had a coup and has had multi-party elections since independence in 1966.
Announcing the prize, ex-UN Secretary General Kofi Annnan also commended Mr Mogae for his action to tackle the Aids pandemic which has ravaged the country.
The Ibrahim Prize - the most valuable individual annual prize in the world - was set up by Sudan-born telecoms entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim.The Ibrahim Prize - the most valuable individual annual prize in the world - was set up by Sudan-born telecoms entrepreneur Mo Ibrahim.
Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano won the first prize last year. As well as the $5m prize, Mr Mogae also gets $200,000 a year for the rest of his life.
Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is to announce the winner of the prize for a retired president in London. Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano won the inaugural prize last year.
As well as the $5m prize, the winner will also get $200,000 a year for the rest of his life.
IBRAHIM INDEX TOP FIVE 1: Mauritius2: Seychelles3: Cape Verde4: Botswana5: South Africa BOTTOM FIVE 44: Angola45: Sudan46: Chad47: DR Congo48: Somalia Mr Ibrahim's foundation recently issued a report which said governance had improved in most African countries.
The Ibrahim index, based on data from 2006, listed Mauritius as the best-governed out of 48 African countries and Liberia as the most improved.
Somalia was ranked last, a place behind the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Obscured by many of the headlines of the past few months, the real story coming out of Africa is that governance performance across a large majority of African countries is improving," Mr Ibrahim said.
"Africa is open for business," he told Reuters news agency.