Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos awarded 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize for the year 2016 has been awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts towards ending 52-year-old civil war which cost the lives of over 220,000 citizens.

Announcing the Laureates, Kaci Kullman Five, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, "The award should be seen as a tribute to Colombian citizens 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. This tribute is paid, not least, to the representatives of the countless victims of the civil war."

Announcement of the 2016 #NobelPrize in Peace https://t.co/pMBPquTF3S

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 7, 2016

The award came as a surprise as Colombians have voted against an agreement he signed with Marxist rebels to end 52 years of war.

Santos has promised to revive a peace plan even though Colombians, in a referendum on Sunday, narrowly rejected the accord. Many voters reckoned it was too lenient on the FARC guerrillas.

The Nobel Peace Prize, worth 8 million Swedish crowns ($930,000), will be presented in Oslo on December 10. 

In 2015, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet for its contribution to building democracy after the Jasmine Revolution in 2011.

It is believed that working closely with Bertha von Suttner influenced Alfred Nobel's views on peace. Therefore, the peace prize was added as the final prize in Nobel's will.