Bogota, Colombia

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Sunday that he will donate his Nobel Peace Prize money to victims of the conflict that has plagued  his country for half a century.

Advertisment

"Last night, I met with my family and we have decided to donate those eight million Swedish krona ($925,000) to the victims," Santos said after a religious ceremony for those affected by the armed conflict in the northwestern town of Bojaya, AFP reported.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee had on Saturday awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Santos for "his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end", after he signed a historic peace deal with FARC rebels.

Santos won the award despite the rejection of the accord in a referendum.

Advertisment

The war in Colombia has claimed at least 220,000 lives and displaced close to six million people, the committee had observed. 

Advertisment

(WION with inputs from AFP)