Nobel Peace Prize for Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end the 52-year conflict with left-wing rebels.

The Nobel committee praised him for a peace deal signed with Farc rebels, but rejected by Colombians in a vote.

Mr Santos said he dedicated the award to “all the victims of the conflict”, and the Farc leader congratulated him.

About 260,000 people have been killed and more than six million internally displaced in Colombia.

The award did not include Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, known as Timochenko, who also signed the accord. The head of the Nobel commitee said the award recognised the president’s “resolute efforts” to end the conflict.

“The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people who, despite great hardships and abuses, have not given up hope of a just peace, and to all the parties who have contributed to the peace process,” Kaci Kullman Five added.

Mr Santos said on Twitter: “This honourable distinction is not for me, it’s for all the victims of the conflict. Together we’ll win the most important award of them all: peace.”

The peace deal was rejected by 50.2% of voters who went to the polls on 2 October.

The committee acknowledged the result, saying: “What the ‘No’ side rejected was not the desire for peace, but a specific peace agreement.”

It also said that finding a balance between the need for reconciliation and ensuring justice for the victims would be a difficult challenge.

Also on Twitter, Farc leader Timochenko said: “I congratulate President Juan Manuel Santos, Cuba and Norway, who sponsored the process, and Venezuela and Chile, who assisted it, without them, peace would be impossible.”

Earlier, he had written: “The only prize we aspire to is peace with social justice for Colombia, without (right-wing) paramilitary groups, without retaliation or lies. Peace in the streets.”

Critics, led by former president Alvaro Uribe, said the deal was too lenient to the rebels.

Under the agreement, special courts would have been created to try crimes committed during the conflict.

Those who confessed would have received lighter sentences and avoided serving any time in conventional prisons.

The Farc would also have been guaranteed 10 seats in the Colombian Congress in the 2018 and 2022 elections. BBC