Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wins 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

Mangalore Today News Network

Stockholm, Oct 07, 2016: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2016 for brokering a peace treaty with the FARC chief Rodrigo London, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, which ended end 52 years of civil war.

On August 25, the Colombian government signed an agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country’s biggest rebel group that ended one of the world’s longest-running and bloodiest armed conflicts, in which over 220,000 lives lost while over five million people were driven out of their homes.

But in an low-turnout plebiscite October 2, the Colombians rejected the deal with a ‘no’ vote led by 50.2% to 49.8%, a difference of lesser than 54,000 votes out of almost 13 million cast.

But "for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end”, Santos was given the Nobel peace prize.