Nobel Peace Prize for Colombian president
‘Resolute efforts’ to end Latin America’s longest war
OSLO: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Prize yesterday for his “resolute” efforts to end five decades of war in his country, despite voters’ shock rejection of a historic peace deal. The award was unexpected after voters rejected the accord Santos signed last month with FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, with some observers expressing surprise the rebel chief did not jointly receive the prize.
But the FARC chief congratulated his former enemy and said the only prize the Marxist guerrillas wanted was “peace with social justice for Colombia.. peace in the streets.”
The Norwegian Nobel committee said the award recognized Santos’ “resolute efforts” to bring Latin America’s longest war to end and hailed his decision to put the peace deal to the people despite knowing it was controversial.
Committee chairwoman Kaci Kullmann Five paid tribute to other players in the peace process, without mentioning the FARC leader by name. “By awarding this year’s Peace Prize to President Juan Manuel Santos, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to encourage all those who are striving to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Colombia,” she said.
The deal, signed on September 26 after nearly four years of talks, was supposed to be ratified following an October 2 referendum but voters shot it down, leaving Colombia teetering between war and peace.
The result caught Nobel watchers off guard, with most experts predicting the referendum would scupper Colombia’s chances. But the committee said the aim was to encourage peace efforts, which are now in “real danger” of collapse. “We hope that it will encourage all good initiatives and all the parties who could make a difference in the peace process and give Colombia-finally a peace after decades of war,” Kullmann Five said.
Santos said he was honoured by the award, which he dedicated to “all Colombians, especially the millions of victims of this conflict that we have suffered for more than 50 years.”
In remarks to the Nobel Foundation, he also said an end to the conflict was “very, very close” and that the award was “a great stimulus” in the quest for peace. “The message is that we have to persevere and reach the end of this war. We are very, very close, we just need to push a bit further.”
More than 260,000 people have been killed and 45,000 gone missing in the Colombian conflict which has involved leftist guerrilla groups, rightwing paramilitaries and drug gangs. Under the terms of the deal, FARC was to relaunch as a political party, but the agreement was struck down following a successful campaign by rightwing hardliners angered by the offer of impunity for the rebels.