That's a wrap!
Well, that it’s for our live coverage of the Nobel peace prize. To recap, the award was given to the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, for his efforts to negotiate peace in his country with the Farc guerrillas. It was a surprise win, given the peace deal he struck with Farc leader Timochenko was rejected by the Colombian people in a referendum less than a week ago. Santos said he was deeply honoured by the prize and accepted the prize on behalf of the Colombian people and in particular of the victims of the decades-long conflict.
For more on Santos’ peace prize victory and any breaking developments, read our story here:
Thanks to Sibylla Brodzinsky, who has been reporting this from Bogota since about 4am local time. She’ll be following developments in Colombia over the coming weeks and months, as the country approaches the end of its period of ceasefire without a peace deal, so keep checking in to the Guardian for coverage of developments in that country.
We’re almost at the end of Nobel season, there’s just one left, the prize for economics, which is announced on Monday morning. Join us then as we cover that announcement. Thanks and goodbye!
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Reaction in Colombia so far has been largely positive, with many seeing the prize as a sign of support for the country and faith in the peace process.
The former president Álvaro Uribe, who campaigned vehemently against the peace deal with the Farc and has been a constant critic of Santos, has congratulated the president but indicated he will still insist on changes to the deal with the Farc.
“I celebrate the Nobel for President Santos, I hope it will lead to changing the accord that is harmful for democracy,” he tweeted.
Ivan Marquez, chief negotiator for Farc, also congratulated the president.
“We hope that the Nobel peace prize gives President Santos strength to give life to the final agreement and dignity for all Colombians.”
Esperamos que el Nobel de paz le de al Presidente Santos fuerza para darle vida al Acuerdo Final y dignidad a todos los colombianos
— Iván Márquez (@IvanMarquezFARC) October 7, 2016
The Farc leader, Rodrigo Londoño, who was expected to have been a joint recipient if the peace prize was awarded for Colombian peace efforts, has also tweeted his congratulations.
Felicito al presidente Juan Manuel Santos, a garantes Cuba y Noruega, acompañantes Venezuela y Chile sin los cuales seria imposible la Paz
— Timoleón Jiménez (@Timochenko_FARC) October 7, 2016
Others have warned that though positive, the prize comes at a critical time for the country, as tensions resurface after the referendum result.
The peace Nobel for @JuanManSantos is an amazing sign of support.
— Mayra Báez Jimeno (@mayrabaez) October 7, 2016
Peace is not dead. We must keep working.
The Nobel Committee's decision is more important now than it would've been had "Yes" won the plebiscite—https://t.co/G6xYIqdFb5
— Adam Isacson (@adam_wola) October 7, 2016
#Nobel prize comes as #Colombia edged to chaos. Thursday, army told troops to be on "maximum readiness for combat" https://t.co/ejDSNp5ZNo
— Toby Muse (@tobymuse) October 7, 2016
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Santos addresses the media after winning Nobel prize
Sibylla Brodzinsky is in Bogotá where President Juan Manuel Santos, the newest Nobel peace prize laureate, has just addressed the nation from the presidential palace, with his wife by his side. She reports that he spoke of his gratitude at winning and his hopes for peace in Colombia. Here’s the text of his speech:
Early this morning my son Martin woke me with the news to tell me about the decision of the Norwegian committee to grant me the Nobel peace prize.
I am infinitely grateful for this honourable distinction with all my heart. I accept it not on my behalf but on behalf of all Colombians, especially the millions of victims of this conflict which we have suffered for more than 50 years.
It is for the victims and so that there not be a single new victim, not a single new casualty, that we must reconcile and unite to culminate this process and begin to construct a stable and durable peace.
This distinguished prize is also a tribute to all those who have contributed so much to us being close to achieve the peace we have hoped for, to the negotiators on both sides and to so many other people and institutions that have supported us in this process.
I receive this recognition with great humility and as a mandate to continue to work without rest for peace for all Colombians. I will dedicate all my efforts to this cause for the rest of my days.
Thank god, peace is close. Peace is possible. It is time for peace.
Together as a nation we will build it.
I invite everyone to unite our efforts, our minds and our hearts in this great national goal so that we all win the most important prize: peace for Colombia.
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Listen to the phone call between Santos and the Nobel committee
The Nobel prize committee have released audio of their phone call congratulating President Santos on being awarded the Nobel peace prize.
Listen to the full audio here:
Responding to the prize, Santos said it was an award he received on behalf of the Colombian people, and particularly the victims of the conflict that has ravaged his country for more than 50 years.
“I receive this with great emotion and this is something that will forever be important for my country for the people who have suffered with this war, especially the victims,” said Santos. “This is something that is a great recognition for my country and with all humbleness I receive it and I’m eternally grateful.”
Santos added that the award was very important for the peace process in Colombia, saying it would act as motivation to the various parties involved in talks to finally achieve peace.
“The message is we have to persevere until we reach the end of this war, we are very very close, we just need to push a bit further, to persevere, and this is going to be a great stimulus to reach that end, to start the construction of peace in Colombia.
“This is something all the people of Colombia will receive with emotion, especially the victims, they will be very very happy because it’s in their name that this is given.”
When asked what gave him strength to continue to fight for peace, especially given the recent setback of the rejection of the peace deal in last week’s referendum, Santos said it was a matter of “believing in a cause”.
“There’s no better cause for any country, any society than living in peace, something Colombians have not been able to have for three generations. I think this is the moment, conditions are ripe, and we just have to persevere and this has been what has given me stimulus to persevere. This is the best cause that any person can try to achieve – peace for his country.”
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Rodrigo Londoño, leader of the Farc rebels, and the main negotiating partner with Santos for the peace accord in Colombia, has responded to the Nobel peace prize announcement on Twitter, where he goes by the name Timoleón Jiménez, saying:
“The only award we want is peace with social justice for Colombia without paramilitarism, without retaliation or lies.”
El único premio al que aspiramos es de la #PazConJusticiaSocial para #Colombia sin pamilitarismo, sin retaliaciones ni mentiras #PazALaCalle
— Timoleón Jiménez (@Timochenko_FARC) October 7, 2016
Before the announcement of the prize, it was believed that if it was awarded for the negotiations that have sought to end the 50-year conflict in Colombia, it would be awarded jointly to Santos and Londoño, who is also known as Timochenko.
Journalists present at the announcement of the award expressed surprise that Timochenko was not included as a joint recipient and asked whether this was because the Norwegian Nobel committee thought it would be difficult to award a prize for peace to a guerrilla leader. Kaci Kullmann Five, chair of the committee, repeatedly avoided questions on this subject, saying: “We never comment on those who do not receive the award.”
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Reaction in Colombia
Colombia is just waking up to the news of the Nobel peace prize for President Juan Manuel Santos. It comes as a surprise for many Colombians who believed his chances had been scuttled by the rejection of the peace deal his government had hammered out with Farc rebels after four years of talks in a referendum on 2 October.
According to Kristian Herbolzheimer, of peace consultancy Conciliation Resources, given the “toxic dynamic” of local politics after the referendum, the prize’s consequences domestically are “unpredictable”.
Critics of Santos had derided the president for allegedly being motivated by winning the Nobel prize in his search for peace in Colombia. Last night someone who voted no in the plebiscite told me she was happy because the result of the vote meant Santos wouldn’t get the prize.
Carlos Holmes Trujillo, a member of the opposition Democratic Centre party and the committee designated to search for a way out of the crisis, told local radio that the prize is “a well-deserved recognition by the international community of the efforts he has been making for peace”.
The former president Álvaro Uribe, who campaigned vehemently against the peace deal with the Farc and has been a constant critic of Santos, has been tweeting since 5am (11am UK time) but has made no mention of the peace prize for his arch-rival. Also no reaction yet from Farc leadership who are in Havana.
César Rodriguez Garavito, the director of Dejusticia, a Colombian thinktank, says the Nobel prize will boost efforts to reach a new peace deal. Those who led the campaign for rejecting the peace accord in last week’s referendum are in talks with the government to make changes to the agreement that will make it more palatable to the half of Colombian voters who rejected it.
“It doesn’t change the results of the plebiscite, but it reminds the parties that what is at stake is the end of the war, not political calculations,” said Garavito. “It’s a recognition of the titanic efforts to reach peace.”
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Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá reports that Santos has spoken to the Nobel committee by phone and will address the media at 7am local time (1pm UK time). We’ll cover that speech when it happens.
Is this year’s award yet another example of the prize being used as a tool to encourage people to finish the job as it has been many times over the years, including 1993, 2007, 2009 and 2015?
The Nobel committee has a long track record of rewarding people when the job is half done, to encourage them to finish. From nuclear inspectors in 2005 and the UN climate panel to the Tunisians last year, the tactic often seems to be to use recognition to reanimate flagging processes. In the case of Barack Obama (2009) the prize was awarded on the basis of little more than a few fine speeches, before he’d really even got started. In his case, it’s arguable that it made little difference.
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Kaci Kullmann Five, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, on its reasons for choosing Santos as the winner of this year’s peace prize:
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 this peace process. This tribute is paid not least to the representatives of the countless victims of the civil war.
President Santos initiated the negotiations that culminated in the peace accord between the Colombian government and the Farc guerrillas, and he has consistently sought to move the peace process forward, well knowing that the accord was controversial. He was instrumental in ensuring that Colombian voters were able to voice their opinion concerning the accord in a referendum. The outcome of the vote was not what President Santos wanted. A narrow majority of the over 13 million Colombians who cast their ballots said no to the accord.
This result has created great uncertainty as to the future of Colombia. 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 guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londoño continue to respect the ceasefire.
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There is a fair amount of consternation from some quarters that Santos won despite the fact the peace deal he negotiated was rejected by the Colombian people (albeit by an extremely narrow margin) in a referendum. Some of you have expressed surprise at this in the comments below, with ClubberLang suggesting that if losing a referendum is grounds to win a Nobel prize, David Cameron better get his acceptance speech ready.
More seriously, for those of you who want more on the Colombian peace deal and the referendum that undid it, here’s an excellent article from my colleague Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá.
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Apparently Santos still hasn’t heard the news of his win. The Norwegian television station NRK TV has tried to get in touch with him, but he is sleeping and his staff refuse to wake him up.
Fair enough, it is 4.45am in Colombia right now.
Ha! NRK TV has tried to contact #NobelPeacePrize laureate President Santos, but his night guard refuses to wake him up...
— Elise Aasen (@TheEliselise) October 7, 2016
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Video of the announcement
In case you missed the announcement, here’s Kaci Kullmann Five, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee announcing Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, as the surprise winner of the 2016 peace prize.
Santos, and the leader of the Farc rebel group, Rodrigo Londoño, known as Timochenko, were considered leading contenders for the award after signing a peace deal last month to end 52 years of war. However, it was believed their chances had been scuppered on Sunday when a referendum saw Colombians narrowly reject the peace deal by 50.2% to 49.8%.
However, it seems the committee was not deterred by this result and they say they hope the prize will encourage all parties to continue working towards peace.
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"Quiet disappointment" for Syrian White Helmets
A tweet reveals the reaction at the headquarters of the Syrian White Helmets, considered a favourite to win the prize:
Quiet disappointment at #WhiteHelmets HQ. They're a brilliant, inspiring group, saving lives on daily basis. #Nobel pic.twitter.com/LsktcbMg0Y
— Mark Lowen (@marklowen) October 7, 2016
Indeed there seems to be significant disappointment on social media that the White Helmets haven’t taken the prize – it seems they were a popular favourite.
Congrats for the Syrian @SyriaCivilDef heroes for winning our hearts and losing a stone prize. You are our #NobelPeacePrize heroes
— Mahmoud Al Basha (@Mahmoud_Bashaa) October 7, 2016
Way to wake up this morning...bless them #WhiteHelmets #NobelPeacePrize pic.twitter.com/rYjJ0Oj9zP
— Zahra (@_Chake_) October 7, 2016
The White Helmets, meanwhile, have tweeted their congratulations to the president of Colombia and wished the people of that country peace.
Congratulations to the people and President of Columbia. We sincerely wish them peace. @NobelPrize
— The White Helmets (@SyriaCivilDef) October 7, 2016
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Shock in the room at the announcement
Reporters at the press conference in Oslo are clearly surprised by the announcement of Santos as peace prize winner. They are also wanting to know more about how the decision was reached.
One reporter asks if Santos has been notified of the award, and “if he will be as surprised by it as we are”.
Santos has not yet been notified, says Kaci Kullmann Five, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, but they are attempting to make contact with him at this moment. He was not notified in advance because “in this modern world” advance notification can so often lead to leaks and the Nobel peace prize is nothing if not a heavily guarded secret.
Kullmann Five is asked whether awarding the prize to a president who negotiated a peace deal that was then rejected by the people of Colombia was disrespectful to Colombian democracy.
She says no, she thinks the Colombians rejected the specifics of the peace deal, not peace itself, and is hopeful that this award will encourage the country’s leaders to continue to strive for peace and not let tensions reemerge.
Kullmann Five is being pressed again on whether they considered including the leader of the Farc rebel group in the award, but is refusing to be drawn – “we never comment on the process”, she says.
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Kaci Kullmann Five, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, is asked why the award was not split between the parties involved in the peace negotiations – including the Farc leader, Timochenko. She says Santos’s role as president, as “keeper of the process”, was very important and that while other attempts have been made to achieve peace in the country in the past, Santos went “all in”.
When pressed about whether it was also to do with the fact that it is difficult to award a peace prize to a guerrilla leader, Kullmann Five replied: “We never comment on those who do not receive the award.”
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The Nobel committee spokeswoman, Kaci Kullmann Five, applauded Santos for saying he would fight for peace until his last day in office.
“The committee hopes that the peace prize will give him strength to succeed in this demanding task. Further, it is the committee’s hope that in the years to come, the Colombian people will reap the fruits of the reconciliation process.”
Kullmann Five said although the peace accord was rejected in the referendum, the negotiations have “brought the bloody conflict significantly closer to a peaceful solution” and Santos’s “endeavours to promote peace demonstrate the spirit of Alfred Nobel’s will”.
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Kaci Kullmann Five, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee, says it is the belief of the committee the result of the referendum, which was to reject the peace accord negotiated by Santos and the leader of the Farc rebels, Timochenko, could lead to a flare-up of conflict and civil war in the country and the committee strongly encourages Santos and Timochenko to respect the accord and “take their share of responsibility and participate constructively in the upcoming peace talks”.
Kullmann Five says the referendum result was not the Colombian people rejecting peace, but rejecting the specific details of the peace deal put forward last week.
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The announcement – Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos wins!
The Norwegian committee has decided to award the 2016 peace prize to the Colombian president for his work to bring peace to his country, despite the fact that the peace deal was voted down in a referendum less than a week ago.
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The Guardian view: give it to the White Helmets
With only five minutes until the announcement is expected, we should lay our cards on the table. Earlier this week, the Guardian published an editorial saying the prize should go to the White Helmets, the Syrian volunteers who have rescued more than 60,000 people from the rubble of buildings hit in the bombing campaigns. Read the editorial here:
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More on the demographics of Nobel peace prize winners:
Age of peace prize winners
The average age of peace prize winners is 61, and the great bulk of winners get the award in their 50s, 60s or 70s, so these are prime Nobel prize-winning years. That said, last year Malala Yousafzai became the youngest ever winner at 17, in partnership with Kailash Satyarthi, for her work campaigning for girls’ education. The oldest winner is 87-year-old Joseph Rotblat, a Polish-British physicist, who was joint recipient in 1995 for his work in the area of nuclear disarmament.
Our graphics team have come up with this nifty chart to show how much your chance of winning increases as you age.
Nationality of winners
Seventeen peace prize winners were born in the US, 11 in the UK, nine in France, five in Germany and five in Sweden. There have been winners born in non-US, non-European countries – special mentions to South Africa and Egypt with three winners apiece – but there have only been a handful of winners from South America and Asia. As with female winners, racial diversity seems to be increasing as well – the last five years have seen winners from Pakistan, India, Yemen, Liberia and China.
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Helena Smith, our correspondent in Greece, has spoken to the mayor of Lesbos, one of the Greek islands that has seen a huge number of refugees arrive in the last 18 months. The mayor says that if the Greek islanders win the prize – and they are tipped as favourites by a few people – for their work welcoming refugees, no celebrations are planned and they will keep everything low-key.
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Who wins Nobel peace prizes?
Before the announcement of the peace prize last year, the Guardian did an analysis of all the winners since its inception in 1901. We found the following;
If you want to win, it helps if you’re male
Apparently it was a woman, Bertha von Suttner, who inspired Alfred Nobel to include peace as a category for the awards he was thinking of creating. Including Von Suttner, who won the award in 1905, only 16 individual women have won the prize compared with 87 men. More organisations (22) have won the prize than women.
Sadly, these are the best statistics of any of the categories, with more individual women winning the peace prize than the prizes for physics, chemistry, medicine, economics or literature. However, the rate at which women are winning the peace prize has accelerated. There were only three female winners of the award between 1901 and 1975, but there have been 13 in the 40 years since, including six since 2003.
Presidents and religious leaders often win
Of all professions, “religious leaders” are best represented on the Nobel peace prize podium, with former winners including: Nathan Söderblom, former head of the church in Sweden (1930), Dominique Pire, a Belgian priest who headed up a relief organisation for refugees (1958), Mother Teresa (1979), Desmond Tutu (1984), the Dalai Lama (1989), and the Catholic bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, who campaigned for independence for East Timor (1996).
Four US presidents have won the award: Theodore Roosevelt (1906) for his work mediating the end of the Russo-Japanese war, Woodrow Wilson (1919) for his work setting up the League of Nations, Jimmy Carter (2002) for his work campaigning for international peace and the improvement of lives in developing countries, and Barack Obama (2009) for … well, no one’s quite sure.
The prize has also been won by two vice-presidents: Charles G Dawes (1925) and Al Gore (2007, shared with the UN), and by the then secretary of state, Henry Kissinger (1973), jointly with his Vietnamese counterpart Lé Dúc Tho. Kissinger’s award was one of the most controversial in the prize’s history, with Tho refusing to accept the award and two Nobel prize committee members resigning in protest.
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The press conference has started. We’re expecting to hear an announcement of the winner in about 15 minutes.
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How does the Nobel peace prize selection process work?
To be nominated isn’t actually that hard. You just need to get someone to submit your name and a blurb explaining why you should win to the Norwegian Nobel committee.
The catch is that not just anyone can nominate you, they need to be:
- A member of a national assembly or government
- Member of an international court
- A university chancellor or a university professor of certain subjects
- Director of a peace research institute/foreign policy institute
- A previous winner of the Nobel peace prize
- A member of or adviser to the Norwegian Nobel committee
Once nominated, selections go to the Nobel prize committee (made up of five people appointed by the Norwegian parliament), who decide on a winner.
The prize will be announced in Oslo, Norway, rather than Stockholm, Sweden, where all the other Nobel prizes so far this year – physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine – have been announced.
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Who will win?
Trying to predict the winner of a Nobel peace prize is notoriously difficult. Names of nominees – and this year there are 376 candidates, a record high – aren’t released by the Nobel committee until 50 years after the award, though those who do the nominating can publish the name of their nominee.
Bookies’ favourites to win this year include the White Helmets, the Syrian civil defence volunteers, the Greek islanders, Pope Francis and Angela Merkel. The Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, and the leader of the Farc rebel group, Rodrigo Londoño, also know as Timochenko, were considered leading contenders for the award until the peace deal they signed was rejected by the Colombian people in a referendum on Sunday.
Read the predictions of Guardian writers here.
But it’s a tricky one to predict. Last year, the favourites to win included Pope Francis (again), John Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif for their negotiation of the Iran nuclear deal, the Eritrean priest Mussie Zerai, who has rescued refugees for more than a decade, and the Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege. They were all pipped at the post by the Tunisian national dialogue quartet in recognition of their work keeping peace in Tunisia in the wake of the 2011 revolution there. It was widely seen as a surprise choice.
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It begins!
It’s the day of the big one - the Nobel peace prize will be announced this morning at about 10am UK time. Follow here for predictions, updates and reactions. The peace prize is often a controversial and surprising one, so join us as we follow the action.
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Santos? For holding a referendum that went against him? Cameron did that. According to Dave, the only reason we're not bombing Benidorm was because of the EU. The man's a hero. History will look back kindly on that man.