FARC rebels

BOGOTA: President Juan Manuel Santos said Friday Colombia was "very, very" close to ending decades of war and that receiving the Nobel Peace Prize would be "a great stimulus" to that end.  In an interview with the Nobel Foundation, the Colombian leader accepted the prestigious award in the name of his people, and insisted a peace agreement was possible despite the nation's shock rejection of a historic deal he reached last month with the communist FARC rebels. "I receive this award in their name -- the Colombian people who…

OSLO/BOGOTA: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to end a 52-year-old war with Marxist rebels, a surprise choice and a show of support after Colombians rejected a peace accord last Sunday. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said Santos had brought one of the longest civil wars in modern history significantly closer to a peaceful solution, but there was still a danger the peace process could collapse. The award excluded FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londono, better…

COLOMBIA: Colombia's leftist FARC rebel force signed a historic peace accord with the government Monday and apologized to the countless victims of the country's half-century civil war.