When the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons won the 2013 Nobel Peace prize Friday morning, leaders of the watchdog group were nowhere to be found.
“@OPCW Please contact us @Nobelprize_org we are trying to get through to your office,” Nobel Prize organizers tweeted from Norway at 5:44 am.
Minutes later, the Nobel committee went ahead with its announcement and webcast of the winner – and then went back to trying notify OPCW.
The two groups clearly don’t follow each other on Twitter. While the Nobel folks were reaching out, the Hague, Netherlands-based OPCW – which is in the same time zone as the Nobel committee – was boasting of the win.
“OPCW wins the #NobelPeacePrize!” it tweeted at 5:01 am.
The mixed signals prompted Foreign Policy’s David Kenner to tweet: “@Nobelprize.org is tweeting it can’t reach OPCW; @OPCW is tweeting it won the Nobel Prize. Guys, follow each other for a DM?”
Later Friday, OPCW confirmed it had talked to the Nobel committee, tweeting: “Thank you for all the messages. We can confirm that we have been in touch with @Nobelprize_org – thanks for the concern!”
OPCW, formed in 1997, was awarded the prestigious $1.2 million prize for its work enforcing the international Chemical Weapons Convention. Its members are currently in Syria for the disarming of President Bashar Assad’s arsenal.