LONDON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - A $5 million prize for former African leaders who set examples of honest, democratic government will not be awarded this year, the prize committee said on Monday.

Mo Ibrahim, a Sudanese-born telecommunications entrepreneur who set up the award, denied the decision was a snub to leaders such as former South African President Thabo Mbeki or former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who would have been eligible.

"We have full respect to the people you mentioned. Some of those people are personal friends. There is no issue of disrespect here," he told a news conference at London's City Hall.

Committee members declined to give a reason for their decision, citing the confidentiality of their discussions, or to say if it meant no leader had met the standard required.

Ibrahim founded the world's largest individual award as a way to encourage good governance in a continent blighted by corruption and a frequently loose adherence to democratic principles.