Irish Musician and activist Bob Geldof said he will return his Freedom of The City of Dublin award.

The decision of returning the awards came in protest over his fellow recipient Aung San Suu Kyi&#39;s response to the repression of Rohingya.

&quot;Her association with our city shames us all and we should have no truck with it, even by default. We honored her, now she appalls and shames us&nbsp;In short, I do not wish to be associated in any way with an individual currently engaged in the mass ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people of North West Burma&quot; Gedolf said in a statement. Reported by Reuters

Suu Kyi was given Freedom of Dublin in 199 while she was held under house arrest by Myanmar&#39;s the military government but received it later in 2012 at a reception in Ireland.

Similar honour by the British university city of Oxford, where she was an undergraduate was also taken away last month.

Aung San Suu Kyi was heavily criticized for failing to speak out against the atrocities on Rohingya. People criticizing her also called for her to be stripped of the Nobel Peace Prize that she won in 1991

Other&nbsp;recipients of the Freedom of Dublin include John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, and Mikhail Gorbachev.

More than 600,00 Muslims from Myanmar&#39;s Rakhine state have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh after military operations described by the United Nations as ethnic cleansing.

Irish Musician and activist Bob Geldof said he will return his Freedom of The City of Dublin award

Irish Musician and activist Bob Geldof said he will return his Freedom of The City of Dublin award. The decision of returning the awards came in protest over his fellow recipient Aung San Suu Kyi's response to the repression of Rohingya. "Her association with our city shames us all and we should have no truck with it, even by default. We honored her, now she appalls and shames us In short, I do not wish to be associated in any way with an individual currently engaged in the mass ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people of North West Burma" Gedolf said in a statement. Reported by Reuters Suu Kyi was given Freedom of Dublin in 199 while she was held under house arrest by Myanmar's the military government but received it later in 2012 at a reception in Ireland. Similar honour by the British university city of Oxford, where she was an undergraduate was also taken away last month. Aung San Suu Kyi was heavily criticized for failing to speak out against the atrocities on Rohingya. People criticizing her also called for her to be stripped of the Nobel Peace Prize that she won in 1991 Other recipients of the Freedom of Dublin include John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, and Mikhail Gorbachev. More than 600,00 Muslims from Myanmar's Rakhine state have fled to refugee camps in Bangladesh after military operations described by the United Nations as ethnic cleansing.

Geldof will return his Freedom of The City of Dublin award in protest of Aung San Suu Kyi

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 was awarded to the&nbsp;International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons an advocacy group that has worked to draw attention to their &ldquo;catastrophic humanitarian consequences.&rdquo;

Every year, the winners of the Nobel Prizes are announced to great fanfare. And none receives more scrutiny than the&nbsp;Nobel Peace Prize.

With good reason. The other Nobel Prizes are given to people who have already changed our world &ndash; for their remarkable accomplishments. But, in the case of the Nobel Peace Prize, the hope of the Nobel Committee is to change the world through its very conferral. It, therefore, rewards&nbsp;aspiration more than achievement.

Francis Sejersted, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1991-1999, once noted&nbsp;with pride the Nobel Peace Prize&rsquo;s political ambitions:

<blockquote>
&ldquo;The Committee also takes the possible positive effects of its choices into account [because] &hellip; Nobel wanted the Prize to have political effects. Awarding a Peace Prize is, to put it bluntly, a political act.&rdquo;
</blockquote>

So, has the Nobel Peace Prize changed the world?

Expecting the prize to bring world peace would be an unfair standard to apply. However, my research shows that the winners and their causes have rarely profited from the award. Even worse, the prize has at times made it harder for them to make the leap from aspiration to achievement.

History of the peace award

The Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901, five years after Alfred Nobel&rsquo;s death. Nobel&rsquo;s will&nbsp;defined peace narrowly and focused on candidates&rsquo; accomplishments: The prize was to be awarded &ldquo;to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.&rdquo;

The committee initially remained true to Nobel&rsquo;s charge. Between 1901 and 1945, over three-quarters of the prizes (33 of 43) went to those who promoted interstate peace and disarmament.

Since the Second World War, however, less than one-quarter of the prizes have gone to promoting interstate peace and disarmament. Just seven of the 37 winners since 1989 fall into this category. Another 11 awards have sought to encourage ongoing peace processes.

But many of these processes had borne little fruit at the time or still had a long road ahead. Consider that three of the most prominent winners in this category were then Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Nonetheless, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is <a href="https://www.vox.com/cards/israel-palestine/peace-process">today in a coma</a>.

Perhaps for this reason, in the last decade, the committee has given just two awards to encourage peace processes. In 2008 Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his various achievements in Namibia, Kosovo and Aceh. In 2016, Colombia&rsquo;s President Juan Manuel Santos&nbsp;was honored with the Nobel in the hope that the prize would help push through his peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, even though a popular referendum had just rejected it, and thereby end his country&rsquo;s half-century-long civil war.

The striking change since the 1970s, and especially since the end of the Cold War, has been the Nobel Peace Prize&rsquo;s growing focus on promoting domestic political change.

<figure class="align-left "><img alt="" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/files/188805/width237/file-20171004-6724-16mw6mf.jpg" />
<figcaption>Albert Luthuli, winner of the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize. AP Photo</figcaption>
</figure>

&nbsp;

Between 1946 and 1970, the prize was awarded just twice to dissidents and activists like the South African leader Albert Luthuli, who led a nonviolent struggle against apartheid in the 1960s, and the&nbsp;American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr..&nbsp;Between 1971 and 1988, such figures received the prize five times. Between 1989 and 2016, more than 40 percent of all winners fell into this category.

The rate has been even higher in the last decade: 57 percent of Nobel Peace Prize laureates since 2007 have been activists and advocates for equality, liberty and human development like educating women and stopping child labor.

These are admirable values. But their connection to interstate, and intrastate, conflict is indirect at best and tenuous at worst.

Does it bring global attention to issues?

The Nobel Peace Prize&rsquo;s defenders insist that the prize works in subtle but perceptible ways to advance the winners&rsquo; causes. They say it attracts media attention, bolsters the winners and their supporters, and even focuses international pressure.

But there&rsquo;s little evidence that the Nobel Peace Prize brings sustained global attention.

First of all, in many instances it is hard to tell whether the prize has made any difference, because the media glare was already intense. For example, in 2005, when the committee honored the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general, Mohammed El Baradei, nuclear proliferation was already of great concern. In other cases &ndash; such as South Africa&rsquo;s transition from apartheid, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the troubles in Northern Ireland &ndash; the prize made little noticeable difference to international media coverage.

It is true that in those few cases where coverage was not already strong, there have been occasional successes. For instance, I found&nbsp;that the committee&rsquo;s decision to hand the award to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991 did draw attention to the plight of Myanmar.

But, in general, my research found little evidence that winning the Nobel Peace Prize boosts international media coverage of the winner&rsquo;s cause beyond the short run.

Putting activists in peril

Of greater concern is that, when the Nobel Peace Prize goes to promote political and social change &ndash; as it has so often in recent decades &ndash; it can have very real and detrimental effects on the movements and causes it celebrates.

Powerful authoritarian regimes will not liberalize just because the Nobel Committee has chosen to honor a dissident. This is not because regimes dismiss it as a silly award given out by international do-gooders. In fact, they take it very seriously. Fearing that domestic activists would take heart, they have <a href="http://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb00660.x">ramped up repression</a>, shrunk the space for political opposition and cracked down harder than ever.

This is what happened in Tibet and Myanmar after the Dalai Lama and after Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and 1991, respectively. Similarly, the Iranian lawyer and human rights activist <a href="http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/middle_east-july-dec03-nobel_10-10/">Shirin Ebadi</a> has been forced to lived in <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/26/world/la-fg-iran-lawyers-20110726">exile</a> in Britain since 2009. In China, the peace award did not make the release of the dissident <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/13/world/asia/liu-xiaobo-dead.html">Liu Xiaobo</a> from prison more likely.

The same is true when it comes to social change. Patriarchal societies, with their deeply entrenched gender roles, will not change just because some people in the West think they should and to that end name a women&rsquo;s rights activist a Nobel laureate.

What&rsquo;s at stake?

The Nobel Committee&rsquo;s intentions are honorable, but the results, I argue, can be tragic. The award raises the spirits of reformers, but it also mobilizes forces that are far greater in opposition.

Every October, many the world over hail the Nobel Committee for its brave and inspired choice. But it is the truly brave activists on the ground who are left to bear the consequences when anxious leaders bring the state&rsquo;s terrible power down on them.

And what happens when the Nobel Peace Prize actually helps to promote political change? As state counsellor (prime minister) of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi has presided over the bloody persecution of the Rohingya and a swiftly mounting international refugee crisis. The admired dissident has, in power, turned out&nbsp;&nbsp;not&nbsp;to be so great a promoter of peace and tolerance.

<img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84758/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" width="1" />The Nobel Peace Prize Committee&rsquo;s choices have been noble &ndash; but, as my research suggests, also sometimes na&iuml;ve.

&nbsp;

This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com" nofollow="" rel="">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-nobel-peace-prize-brings-little-peace-84758" nofollow="" rel="">original article</a>.

&nbsp;

The winners and their causes have rarely profited from the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2017 was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons an advocacy group that has worked to draw attention to their “catastrophic humanitarian consequences.” Every year, the winners of the Nobel Prizes are announced to great fanfare. And none receives more scrutiny than the Nobel Peace Prize. With good reason. The other Nobel Prizes are given to people who have already changed our world – for their remarkable accomplishments. But, in the case of the Nobel Peace Prize, the hope of the Nobel Committee is to change the world through its very conferral. It, therefore, rewards aspiration more than achievement. Francis Sejersted, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee from 1991-1999, once noted with pride the Nobel Peace Prize’s political ambitions: “The Committee also takes the possible positive effects of its choices into account [because] … Nobel wanted the Prize to have political effects. Awarding a Peace Prize is, to put it bluntly, a political act.” So, has the Nobel Peace Prize changed the world? Expecting the prize to bring world peace would be an unfair standard to apply. However, my research shows that the winners and their causes have rarely profited from the award. Even worse, the prize has at times made it harder for them to make the leap from aspiration to achievement. History of the peace award The Nobel Peace Prize was first awarded in 1901, five years after Alfred Nobel’s death. Nobel’s will defined peace narrowly and focused on candidates’ accomplishments: The prize was to be awarded “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” The committee initially remained true to Nobel’s charge. Between 1901 and 1945, over three-quarters of the prizes (33 of 43) went to those who promoted interstate peace and disarmament. Since the Second World War, however, less than one-quarter of the prizes have gone to promoting interstate peace and disarmament. Just seven of the 37 winners since 1989 fall into this category. Another 11 awards have sought to encourage ongoing peace processes. But many of these processes had borne little fruit at the time or still had a long road ahead. Consider that three of the most prominent winners in this category were then Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Nonetheless, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is today in a coma. Perhaps for this reason, in the last decade, the committee has given just two awards to encourage peace processes. In 2008 Martti Ahtisaari, former president of Finland, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his various achievements in Namibia, Kosovo and Aceh. In 2016, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos was honored with the Nobel in the hope that the prize would help push through his peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, even though a popular referendum had just rejected it, and thereby end his country’s half-century-long civil war. The striking change since the 1970s, and especially since the end of the Cold War, has been the Nobel Peace Prize’s growing focus on promoting domestic political change. Albert Luthuli, winner of the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize. AP Photo Between 1946 and 1970, the prize was awarded just twice to dissidents and activists like the South African leader Albert Luthuli, who led a nonviolent struggle against apartheid in the 1960s, and the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.. Between 1971 and 1988, such figures received the prize five times. Between 1989 and 2016, more than 40 percent of all winners fell into this category. The rate has been even higher in the last decade: 57 percent of Nobel Peace Prize laureates since 2007 have been activists and advocates for equality, liberty and human development like educating women and stopping child labor. These are admirable values. But their connection to interstate, and intrastate, conflict is indirect at best and tenuous at worst. Does it bring global attention to issues? The Nobel Peace Prize’s defenders insist that the prize works in subtle but perceptible ways to advance the winners’ causes. They say it attracts media attention, bolsters the winners and their supporters, and even focuses international pressure. But there’s little evidence that the Nobel Peace Prize brings sustained global attention. First of all, in many instances it is hard to tell whether the prize has made any difference, because the media glare was already intense. For example, in 2005, when the committee honored the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director general, Mohammed El Baradei, nuclear proliferation was already of great concern. In other cases – such as South Africa’s transition from apartheid, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or the troubles in Northern Ireland – the prize made little noticeable difference to international media coverage. It is true that in those few cases where coverage was not already strong, there have been occasional successes. For instance, I found that the committee’s decision to hand the award to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1991 did draw attention to the plight of Myanmar. But, in general, my research found little evidence that winning the Nobel Peace Prize boosts international media coverage of the winner’s cause beyond the short run. Putting activists in peril Of greater concern is that, when the Nobel Peace Prize goes to promote political and social change – as it has so often in recent decades – it can have very real and detrimental effects on the movements and causes it celebrates. Powerful authoritarian regimes will not liberalize just because the Nobel Committee has chosen to honor a dissident. This is not because regimes dismiss it as a silly award given out by international do-gooders. In fact, they take it very seriously. Fearing that domestic activists would take heart, they have ramped up repression, shrunk the space for political opposition and cracked down harder than ever. This is what happened in Tibet and Myanmar after the Dalai Lama and after Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and 1991, respectively. Similarly, the Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi has been forced to lived in exile in Britain since 2009. In China, the peace award did not make the release of the dissident Liu Xiaobo from prison more likely. The same is true when it comes to social change. Patriarchal societies, with their deeply entrenched gender roles, will not change just because some people in the West think they should and to that end name a women’s rights activist a Nobel laureate. What’s at stake? The Nobel Committee’s intentions are honorable, but the results, I argue, can be tragic. The award raises the spirits of reformers, but it also mobilizes forces that are far greater in opposition. Every October, many the world over hail the Nobel Committee for its brave and inspired choice. But it is the truly brave activists on the ground who are left to bear the consequences when anxious leaders bring the state’s terrible power down on them. And what happens when the Nobel Peace Prize actually helps to promote political change? As state counsellor (prime minister) of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi has presided over the bloody persecution of the Rohingya and a swiftly mounting international refugee crisis. The admired dissident has, in power, turned out not to be so great a promoter of peace and tolerance. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s choices have been noble – but, as my research suggests, also sometimes naïve. This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Why the Nobel Peace Prize brings little peace

Colombia&#39;s FARC rebels begin disarming Wednesday under a historic peace deal, beginning the delicate transition from guerrilla army to political party after more than half a century at war.

After weeks of mustering its troops at designated disarmament zones, the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was set to begin an inventory of its weapons and destroying munitions under United Nations supervision.

&quot;I&#39;m abandoning my rifle for a broom,&quot; said guerrilla Maritza Gonzalez at the FARC&#39;s hot, dusty camp in San Jose de Oriente, in northern Colombia.

Three armed guerrillas in combat fatigues guarded the entrance to the rudimentary camp, where a steady stream of trucks delivered bags of cement and workers scrambled to finish building a kitchen, mess hall, bathrooms and a laundry area.

Gonzalez, 54, has been a guerrilla since the age of 14. She said she was hopeful for the future and planned to reunite with her five brothers and four sisters.

&quot;Let&#39;s hope this leads to peace,&quot; she told AFP.

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<h5>Maritza Gonzalez, 54, has been a guerrilla since the age of 14. She said she was hopeful for the future and planned to reunite with her five brothers and four sisters. &#39;Let&#39;s hope this leads to peace&#39;</h5>
</blockquote>
</div>

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<div class="share-blockquote"><a class="twitter popup" href="http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Maritza Gonzalez, 54, has been a guerrilla since the age of 14. She said she was hopeful for the future and planned to reunite with her five brothers and four sisters. 'Let's hope this leads to peace'" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a></div>
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President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his efforts to end the country&#39;s 53-year conflict, called the disarmament &quot;historic news for Colombians&quot; in a tweet.

FARC leader Rodrigo &quot;Timochenko&quot; Londono tweeted that the leftist rebels were laying down their guns &quot;with enthusiasm.&quot;

The disarmament of the country&#39;s largest guerrilla army will leave rival movement ELN -- currently engaged in rocky peace talks with the government -- as the only rebel group still waging a multi-sided war that has killed 260,000 people.

The Cold War-era conflict, which has also left 60,000 people missing and uprooted 6.9 million, is the last major armed conflict in the Americas.

Colombia, South America&#39;s third economy and the world&#39;s biggest cocaine producer, has been torn since the 1960s by fighting that has drawn in multiple leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitary units, drug cartels and the army.

<a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/in-colombia-peace-is-elusive-7095">Also</a><a href="http://www.wionews.com/world/in-colombia-peace-is-elusive-7095"> read: In Colombia, peace is elusive</a>

Santos is hoping to seal a &quot;complete peace&quot; with both the FARC and the ELN.

Both leftist rebel groups took up arms against the government in 1964, in the aftermath of a crushed peasant uprising.

Next challenge: the ELN 
The FARC has some 6,900 guerrillas.

It signed a peace deal with the government in November after four years of negotiations in Cuba, but implementation is running slightly behind schedule.

Under the deal, the FARC was originally due to surrender 30 percent of its weapons to the UN by Wednesday. But that can only happen once the inventory is complete.

The government&#39;s high commissioner for peace, Sergio Jaramillo, said Tuesday that the 180-day deadline for the rebels to fully disarm would be maintained, however.

The UN said in a statement that the FARC has until May 29 to disarm.

The first to surrender their weapons will be the 322 FARC members taking part in a joint monitoring commission with the government and the UN.

Separate talks with the ELN, or National Liberation Army, took a hit this week when the rebels claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks -- a bloody reminder of the violence Colombia still faces.

Experts warn the ELN could be a tougher negotiating partner than the FARC because it has more hardline demands for sweeping social change.

It also has a decentralized command structure that could make it harder to convince the rank and file to accept an eventual deal.&nbsp;

(AFP)

They now begin the delicate transition from guerrilla army to political party after more than half a century at war

Colombia's FARC rebels begin disarming Wednesday under a historic peace deal, beginning the delicate transition from guerrilla army to political party after more than half a century at war. After weeks of mustering its troops at designated disarmament zones, the FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was set to begin an inventory of its weapons and destroying munitions under United Nations supervision. "I'm abandoning my rifle for a broom," said guerrilla Maritza Gonzalez at the FARC's hot, dusty camp in San Jose de Oriente, in northern Colombia. Three armed guerrillas in combat fatigues guarded the entrance to the rudimentary camp, where a steady stream of trucks delivered bags of cement and workers scrambled to finish building a kitchen, mess hall, bathrooms and a laundry area. Gonzalez, 54, has been a guerrilla since the age of 14. She said she was hopeful for the future and planned to reunite with her five brothers and four sisters. "Let's hope this leads to peace," she told AFP. Maritza Gonzalez, 54, has been a guerrilla since the age of 14. She said she was hopeful for the future and planned to reunite with her five brothers and four sisters. 'Let's hope this leads to peace' × President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his efforts to end the country's 53-year conflict, called the disarmament "historic news for Colombians" in a tweet. FARC leader Rodrigo "Timochenko" Londono tweeted that the leftist rebels were laying down their guns "with enthusiasm." The disarmament of the country's largest guerrilla army will leave rival movement ELN -- currently engaged in rocky peace talks with the government -- as the only rebel group still waging a multi-sided war that has killed 260,000 people. The Cold War-era conflict, which has also left 60,000 people missing and uprooted 6.9 million, is the last major armed conflict in the Americas. Colombia, South America's third economy and the world's biggest cocaine producer, has been torn since the 1960s by fighting that has drawn in multiple leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitary units, drug cartels and the army. Also read: In Colombia, peace is elusive Santos is hoping to seal a "complete peace" with both the FARC and the ELN. Both leftist rebel groups took up arms against the government in 1964, in the aftermath of a crushed peasant uprising. Next challenge: the ELN The FARC has some 6,900 guerrillas. It signed a peace deal with the government in November after four years of negotiations in Cuba, but implementation is running slightly behind schedule. Under the deal, the FARC was originally due to surrender 30 percent of its weapons to the UN by Wednesday. But that can only happen once the inventory is complete. The government's high commissioner for peace, Sergio Jaramillo, said Tuesday that the 180-day deadline for the rebels to fully disarm would be maintained, however. The UN said in a statement that the FARC has until May 29 to disarm. The first to surrender their weapons will be the 322 FARC members taking part in a joint monitoring commission with the government and the UN. Separate talks with the ELN, or National Liberation Army, took a hit this week when the rebels claimed responsibility for a series of recent attacks -- a bloody reminder of the violence Colombia still faces. Experts warn the ELN could be a tougher negotiating partner than the FARC because it has more hardline demands for sweeping social change. It also has a decentralized command structure that could make it harder to convince the rank and file to accept an eventual deal. (AFP)

Colombia's FARC rebels begin to disarm

After pushing a revised peace deal with the FARC rebels through Congress, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos got down to a far bigger challenge on Thursday: implementing it.

The lower house&#39;s unanimous vote in favour of the deal set off a countdown to end a conflict that has burned for over half a century and killed more than 260,000 people. &quot;Today we can say the war has officially ended,&quot; Santos said in a speech. &quot;We all have to continue making sacrifices, but I hope we will do so together.&quot;

Interior minister Juan Fernando Cristo told a news conference that Colombia now faces &quot;an enormous challenge&quot; to implement the accord.

Within five days, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, must begin demobilising and surrendering their weapons. Under the deal, the process must be complete within six months. The FARC will relaunch as a political party.

The next step, Cristo said, would be to present Congress with an amnesty for FARC members, the most contested part of the accord.

&nbsp;

Amnesty

Santos, who won this year&#39;s Nobel Peace Prize, said &quot;D-Day begins&quot; on Thursday. The delicate transition to peace will take place amid bitter opposition to the deal, which Santos&#39;s rivals say is too soft on the leftist guerrillas.

Voters rejected an earlier version of the deal in a referendum last month. That sent peace negotiators back to the drawing board after nearly four years of talks.

Rather than risk a second referendum, the government and rebels decided to have the revised deal ratified in Congress. Opponents say the new version includes only token changes.

The deal passed unanimously in both houses of Congress, where Santos has a majority. His top opponent, former president Alvaro Uribe, led a walkout by his right-wing party, the Democratic Center.

&quot;How is the Congress going to approve what the Colombian people rejected?&quot; Oscar Ivan Zuloaga, a former presidential candidate for Uribe&#39;s party, said during the House debate.

Uribe and his allies argue the deal grants impunity to rebels guilty of war crimes, giving them seats in Congress rather than sending them to jail.

The biggest bone of contention is an agreement for non-custodial sentences for FARC members who admit to their crimes. Under the deal, rebel leaders will be able to hold public office while still serving their sentences.

&nbsp;

Fragile ceasefire

Lawmakers must now approve a series of bills to implement the peace accord, beginning with the amnesty for the guerrillas.

&quot;A first set of pardons is currently being prepared,&quot; government peace delegate Sergio Jaramillo told the news conference. &quot;Meanwhile, an amnesty law will be submitted to the legislative process.&quot;

A ceasefire has been in effect since August, shaken by violence in recent weeks. Two guerrillas died in what the authorities described as a clash with the army. A wave of assassinations and attacks has also targeted community leaders in conflict areas.

&nbsp;

Disarmament

The FARC&#39;s 5,700 fighters are to gather in disarmament zones, laying down their weapons under UN supervision.

&quot;If that process goes well and without problems, it could change the political balance of power created by the plebiscite and the opposition&#39;s rejection of the accord,&quot; said Kyle Johnson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

But there are still &quot;challenges related not only to the politics but to the implementation on the ground,&quot; he added.

&nbsp;

US pleased&nbsp;

US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the accord in a statement urging its critics &quot;to continue their principled commitment to peace in the coming implementation phase.&quot;

United Nations and the&nbsp;European Union officials also hailed the deal. The conflict has drawn in various guerrilla forces, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs over the years.

The government is still seeking to salvage talks with a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). Talks were suspended last month before they started when the rebels failed to release a hostage.

(Agencies)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Santos said 'the war is officially over', but a minister said bringing peace about was 'an enormous challenge'

After pushing a revised peace deal with the FARC rebels through Congress, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos got down to a far bigger challenge on Thursday: implementing it. The lower house's unanimous vote in favour of the deal set off a countdown to end a conflict that has burned for over half a century and killed more than 260,000 people. "Today we can say the war has officially ended," Santos said in a speech. "We all have to continue making sacrifices, but I hope we will do so together." Interior minister Juan Fernando Cristo told a news conference that Colombia now faces "an enormous challenge" to implement the accord. Within five days, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, must begin demobilising and surrendering their weapons. Under the deal, the process must be complete within six months. The FARC will relaunch as a political party. The next step, Cristo said, would be to present Congress with an amnesty for FARC members, the most contested part of the accord. Amnesty Santos, who won this year's Nobel Peace Prize, said "D-Day begins" on Thursday. The delicate transition to peace will take place amid bitter opposition to the deal, which Santos's rivals say is too soft on the leftist guerrillas. Voters rejected an earlier version of the deal in a referendum last month. That sent peace negotiators back to the drawing board after nearly four years of talks. Rather than risk a second referendum, the government and rebels decided to have the revised deal ratified in Congress. Opponents say the new version includes only token changes. The deal passed unanimously in both houses of Congress, where Santos has a majority. His top opponent, former president Alvaro Uribe, led a walkout by his right-wing party, the Democratic Center. "How is the Congress going to approve what the Colombian people rejected?" Oscar Ivan Zuloaga, a former presidential candidate for Uribe's party, said during the House debate. Uribe and his allies argue the deal grants impunity to rebels guilty of war crimes, giving them seats in Congress rather than sending them to jail. The biggest bone of contention is an agreement for non-custodial sentences for FARC members who admit to their crimes. Under the deal, rebel leaders will be able to hold public office while still serving their sentences. Fragile ceasefire Lawmakers must now approve a series of bills to implement the peace accord, beginning with the amnesty for the guerrillas. "A first set of pardons is currently being prepared," government peace delegate Sergio Jaramillo told the news conference. "Meanwhile, an amnesty law will be submitted to the legislative process." A ceasefire has been in effect since August, shaken by violence in recent weeks. Two guerrillas died in what the authorities described as a clash with the army. A wave of assassinations and attacks has also targeted community leaders in conflict areas. Disarmament The FARC's 5,700 fighters are to gather in disarmament zones, laying down their weapons under UN supervision. "If that process goes well and without problems, it could change the political balance of power created by the plebiscite and the opposition's rejection of the accord," said Kyle Johnson, an analyst with the International Crisis Group. But there are still "challenges related not only to the politics but to the implementation on the ground," he added. US pleased US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the accord in a statement urging its critics "to continue their principled commitment to peace in the coming implementation phase." United Nations and the European Union officials also hailed the deal. The conflict has drawn in various guerrilla forces, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs over the years. The government is still seeking to salvage talks with a smaller rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). Talks were suspended last month before they started when the rebels failed to release a hostage. (Agencies)

Colombia embarks on implementing FARC peace deal

Colombia&#39;s Congress approved a new peace deal with FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) rebels late on Wednesday, despite objections from former president and now senator Alvaro Uribe, who said it was still too lenient on the insurgents who have battled the government for 52 years.

The agreement was approved in the lower house by 130-0, a day after the Senate ratified it 75-0. Lawmakers from Uribe&#39;s Democratic Center party left the floors of both houses in protest just before voting began.

The ratification - and signing last week - begins a six-month countdown for the 7,000-strong FARC, which started as a rebellion fighting rural poverty, to abandon weapons and form a political party.

President Juan Manuel Santos and rebel leader Rodrigo Londono signed the revised accord last week in a sober ceremony after the first deal was rejected in a national plebiscite.

Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his peace efforts, wants to get the deal implemented as quickly as possible to maintain a fragile ceasefire.

Uribe&#39;s supporters argued the deal offered too many concessions to&nbsp;FARC, and did not serve as a deterrent for other groups involved in crime.

&quot;Let&#39;s not forget what we are doing today, we&#39;re trying to end more than 50 years of war,&quot; government negotiator Sergio Jaramillo said.

The new agreement to end Latin America&#39;s longest insurgency was put together in just over a month after the original pact, which allowed the rebels to hold public office and skip jail, was narrowly and unexpectedly defeated in an October 2 referendum.

While the government says the accord includes most of the proposals put forward by those who rejected it, the new document did not alter those two key provisions. That angered many among Colombia&#39;s largely conservative population, who are also furious that Santos decided to ratify the deal in Congress instead of holding another plebiscite.

The government and FARC worked together in Cuba for four years to negotiate an end to the region&#39;s longest-running conflict that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions in the Andean nation.

An end to the war with FARC is unlikely to end violence in Colombia as the lucrative cocaine business has given rise to criminal gangs and traffickers.

(Reuters)

The agreement was approved in the lower house by 130-0, a day after the Senate ratified it 75-0

Colombia's Congress approved a new peace deal with FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) rebels late on Wednesday, despite objections from former president and now senator Alvaro Uribe, who said it was still too lenient on the insurgents who have battled the government for 52 years. The agreement was approved in the lower house by 130-0, a day after the Senate ratified it 75-0. Lawmakers from Uribe's Democratic Center party left the floors of both houses in protest just before voting began. The ratification - and signing last week - begins a six-month countdown for the 7,000-strong FARC, which started as a rebellion fighting rural poverty, to abandon weapons and form a political party. President Juan Manuel Santos and rebel leader Rodrigo Londono signed the revised accord last week in a sober ceremony after the first deal was rejected in a national plebiscite. Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in October for his peace efforts, wants to get the deal implemented as quickly as possible to maintain a fragile ceasefire. Uribe's supporters argued the deal offered too many concessions to FARC, and did not serve as a deterrent for other groups involved in crime. "Let's not forget what we are doing today, we're trying to end more than 50 years of war," government negotiator Sergio Jaramillo said. The new agreement to end Latin America's longest insurgency was put together in just over a month after the original pact, which allowed the rebels to hold public office and skip jail, was narrowly and unexpectedly defeated in an October 2 referendum. While the government says the accord includes most of the proposals put forward by those who rejected it, the new document did not alter those two key provisions. That angered many among Colombia's largely conservative population, who are also furious that Santos decided to ratify the deal in Congress instead of holding another plebiscite. The government and FARC worked together in Cuba for four years to negotiate an end to the region's longest-running conflict that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions in the Andean nation. An end to the war with FARC is unlikely to end violence in Colombia as the lucrative cocaine business has given rise to criminal gangs and traffickers. (Reuters)

New Colombia peace deal approved, hopefully ends 52-year war

The Norwegian Nobel Committee today announced that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year for &quot;his resolute efforts to bring the country&rsquo;s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end&quot;.&nbsp;

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The war has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people, the committee observed.&nbsp;

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&quot;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. This tribute is paid, not least, to the representatives of the countless victims of the civil war,&quot; the committee said in an official statement.

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The award came despite voters&#39; shock rejection of the terms of a historic deal Santos reached last month with FARC chief Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon &quot;Timochenko&quot; Jimenez, after nearly four years of talks, AFP observed.&nbsp;

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&quot;The fact that a majority of the voters said `no` to the peace accord does not necessarily mean that the peace process is dead. The referendum was not a vote for or against peace. What the &quot;No&quot; side rejected was not the desire for peace, but a specific peace agreement,&quot; committee chairwoman Kaci Kullmann Five was quoted as saying by AFP.&nbsp;

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&quot;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 Londono, continue to respect the ceasefire,&quot; &nbsp;she said as she announced the award.&nbsp;

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&quot;By awarding this year&rsquo;s Peace Prize to President Juan Manuel Santos, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to encourage all those who are striving to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Colombia,&quot; the committee further said in an official statement.&nbsp;

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Santos accepts the award on behalf of all Colombians&nbsp;

Santos accepted the award on behalf of all Colombians, especially those who have perished in the country&#39;s conflict, Reuters reported.&nbsp;

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&quot;This morning, very early, my son Martin woke me to tell me the decision that of the committee in Norway to grant me the Nobel Peace Prize. I have infinite gratitude, with all my heart, for this honourable distinction. I don&#39;t receive this in my name, but in the name of all Colombians, especially the millions of victims from this conflict we have been suffering for more than 50 years. Colombians, this is for you. It&#39;s for the victims, so there&#39;s not even one more victim. No one else should die. We should reconcile, come together, to culminate this process and start to contruct a stable and lasting peace,&quot; he said while speaking in Bogota.&nbsp;

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The award excluded FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, who signed the peace accord with Santos in Cartagena on September 26.

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Santos has promised to revive the plan even though Colombians narrowly rejected it in a referendum on Sunday. Many voters believed it was too lenient on the FARC guerrillas, according to Reuters.&nbsp;

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&quot;The award the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Commission is making to President Juan Manuel Santos is the world&#39;s voice of support for our country. It is the recognition they are making to his leadership, to his persistence, to the victims who participated in the process, representing more than seven million victims who have endured the continent&#39;s longest armed conflict. This gives us strength to continue forward. This award gives us strength,&quot; lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle was quoted as saying by Reuters.&nbsp;

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Colombia&#39;s government and Marxist FARC rebels said on Friday they were willing to listen to proposals to alter their peace accord.&nbsp;

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(WION with inputs from agencies)&nbsp; 
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The award came despite rejection of the terms of a historic peace deal Santos reached last month with FARC chief Rodrigo Londono

The Norwegian Nobel Committee today announced that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this year for "his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end". The war has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people, the committee observed. × "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. This tribute is paid, not least, to the representatives of the countless victims of the civil war," the committee said in an official statement. The award came despite voters' shock rejection of the terms of a historic deal Santos reached last month with FARC chief Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez, after nearly four years of talks, AFP observed. "The fact that a majority of the voters said `no` to the peace accord does not necessarily mean that the peace process is dead. The referendum was not a vote for or against peace. What the "No" side rejected was not the desire for peace, but a specific peace agreement," committee chairwoman Kaci Kullmann Five was quoted as saying by AFP. "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 Londono, continue to respect the ceasefire," she said as she announced the award. "By awarding this year’s Peace Prize to President Juan Manuel Santos, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to encourage all those who are striving to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Colombia," the committee further said in an official statement. Santos accepts the award on behalf of all Colombians Santos accepted the award on behalf of all Colombians, especially those who have perished in the country's conflict, Reuters reported. "This morning, very early, my son Martin woke me to tell me the decision that of the committee in Norway to grant me the Nobel Peace Prize. I have infinite gratitude, with all my heart, for this honourable distinction. I don't receive this in my name, but in the name of all Colombians, especially the millions of victims from this conflict we have been suffering for more than 50 years. Colombians, this is for you. It's for the victims, so there's not even one more victim. No one else should die. We should reconcile, come together, to culminate this process and start to contruct a stable and lasting peace," he said while speaking in Bogota. × The award excluded FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, who signed the peace accord with Santos in Cartagena on September 26. Santos has promised to revive the plan even though Colombians narrowly rejected it in a referendum on Sunday. Many voters believed it was too lenient on the FARC guerrillas, according to Reuters. "The award the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Commission is making to President Juan Manuel Santos is the world's voice of support for our country. It is the recognition they are making to his leadership, to his persistence, to the victims who participated in the process, representing more than seven million victims who have endured the continent's longest armed conflict. This gives us strength to continue forward. This award gives us strength," lead government negotiator Humberto de la Calle was quoted as saying by Reuters. Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels said on Friday they were willing to listen to proposals to alter their peace accord. (WION with inputs from agencies)

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wins Nobel Peace Prize for 'resolute' efforts to end civil war

Activist and writer Elie Wiesel, the World War II death camp survivor who won a Nobel Peace Prize for becoming the life-long voice of millions of Holocaust victims, has died, Israel&#39;s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem said on Saturday. 
 
Wiesel, a philosopher, speaker, playwright and professor who also campaigned for the tyrannised and forgotten around the world, was 87. 
 
The Romanian-born Wiesel lived by the credo expressed in &quot;Night,&quot; his landmark story of the Holocaust - &quot;to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time&quot;. 
 
In awarding the Peace Prize in 1986, the Nobel Committee praised Wiesel as a &quot;messenger to mankind&quot; and &quot;one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterise the world.&quot; 
 
Wiesel was 16-years-old when he emerged from the newly liberated Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. He had been orphaned by the Nazis and their identification number, A-7713, was tattooed on his arm as a physical manifestation of his broken faith and the nightmares that would haunt him throughout his life. 
 
Wiesel and his family had first been taken by the Nazis from the village of Sighetu Marmatiei in the Transylvania region of Romania to Auschwitz, where his mother and one of his sisters died. Wiesel and his father, Shlomo, ended up in Buchenwald, where Shlomo died. 
 
A few years after winning the peace prize, he established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which, in addition to Israeli and Jewish causes, campaigned for Miskito Indians in Nicaragua, Cambodian refugees, victims of South African apartheid and of famine and genocide in Africa. 
 
Wiesel became close to US President Barack Obama but the friendship did not deter him from criticising US policy on Israel. He spoke out in favour of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and pushed the United States and other world powers to take a harder stance against Iran over its nuclear programme. Wiesel attended the joint session of the US Congress in 2015 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the dangers of Iran&#39;s programme. 
 
Wiesel and wife, Marion, married in 1969 and their son, Elisha, was born in 1972 
 
(Reuters)

In awarding the Peace Prize in 1986, the Nobel Committee praised Wiesel as a 'messenger to mankind'

Activist and writer Elie Wiesel, the World War II death camp survivor who won a Nobel Peace Prize for becoming the life-long voice of millions of Holocaust victims, has died, Israel's Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem said on Saturday. Wiesel, a philosopher, speaker, playwright and professor who also campaigned for the tyrannised and forgotten around the world, was 87. The Romanian-born Wiesel lived by the credo expressed in "Night," his landmark story of the Holocaust - "to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time". In awarding the Peace Prize in 1986, the Nobel Committee praised Wiesel as a "messenger to mankind" and "one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterise the world." Wiesel was 16-years-old when he emerged from the newly liberated Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. He had been orphaned by the Nazis and their identification number, A-7713, was tattooed on his arm as a physical manifestation of his broken faith and the nightmares that would haunt him throughout his life. Wiesel and his family had first been taken by the Nazis from the village of Sighetu Marmatiei in the Transylvania region of Romania to Auschwitz, where his mother and one of his sisters died. Wiesel and his father, Shlomo, ended up in Buchenwald, where Shlomo died. A few years after winning the peace prize, he established the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, which, in addition to Israeli and Jewish causes, campaigned for Miskito Indians in Nicaragua, Cambodian refugees, victims of South African apartheid and of famine and genocide in Africa. Wiesel became close to US President Barack Obama but the friendship did not deter him from criticising US policy on Israel. He spoke out in favour of Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem and pushed the United States and other world powers to take a harder stance against Iran over its nuclear programme. Wiesel attended the joint session of the US Congress in 2015 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the dangers of Iran's programme. Wiesel and wife, Marion, married in 1969 and their son, Elisha, was born in 1972 (Reuters)

Holocaust survivor, Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel dies