Nobel peace prize win
Santos recognised for efforts to end five decades of civil war
Colombian president recognised for efforts to end five decades of civil war.
OSLO: Efforts by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to end five decades of war in his country were recognised with the Nobel Peace Prize.
The award came despite voters’ shock rejection of the terms of a historic deal he reached last month with FARC chief Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon Jimenez, after nearly four years of talks.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end,” said committee chairman Kaci Kullmann Five.
“There is a real danger that the peace process will come to a halt and that civil war will flare up again. This makes it even more important that the parties, headed by President Santos and FARC guerilla leader Rodrigo Londono, continue to respect the ceasefire,” she said.
The Colombian peace process had been seen as a possible winner of the prestigious prize, but experts had suggested that its chances went up in smoke after voters’ rejection of the peace deal.
“The fact that a majority of the voters said ‘no’ to the peace accord does not necessarily mean that the peace process is dead. The referendum was not a vote for or against peace. What the ‘No’ side rejected was not the desire for peace, but a specific peace agreement,” Five said.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee emphasises the importance of the fact that President Santos is now inviting all parties to participate in a broad-based national dialogue aimed at advancing the peace process.”
Santos takes home the eight million Swedish kronor (RM3.75mil) prize sum.
Swedish inventor and scholar Alfred Nobel created the prizes in his 1895 testament, stipulating that his fortune was to be placed in a fund destined to honour “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind”.