Oslo - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was "overwhelmed" and "very grateful" after learning he won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize, says the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
"He said it was 'incredibly important' for the future of the peace process in Colombia," Olav Njolstad, a non-voting committee secretary, told public broadcaster NRK.
Santos also sounded "surprised," Njolstad says after he reached Santos by phone "very early in the morning" in Colombia.
Santos won the prize for his resolute efforts to bring his country's five-decade-long civil war to an end, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced earlier.
"The award should also be seen as a tribute to the Colombian people, who... have not given up hope of a just peace, and to all the parties who have contributed to the peace process," Kaci Kullmann Five, chairperson of the five-member committee, said in her announcement.
Santos initiated the negotiations that culminated in a peace accord between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest rebel group. But the peace agreement was narrowly rejected in a referendum on Sunday.
"The fact that a majority of the voters said no to the peace accord does not necessarily mean that the peace process is dead," Five said.
"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."
dpa, Xinhua