The Nobel Peace Prize Committee has decided to award the 2016 peace prize to the Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos 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.

A recent deal between the Colombian government and the Marxist FARC rebels ended the 52 year old conflict. The deal was signed after four years of negotiations. However, in a surprise move, the people of Colombia narrowly rejected the deal in a referendum.

The peace prize committee says that the result of the referendum, which was to reject the peace accord negotiated by President Santos and 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”.

She says that the referendum result was not the Colombian people rejecting peace, but rejecting the specific details of the peace deal put forward last week.