(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Norwegian politicians and the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize laureate lamented the news yesterday that the chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, the group that awards the prize, is dead after a long bout with cancer.
Kaci Kullmann Five, chairwoman of the five-member panel since 2015 and committee member since 2003 died on Sunday, Olav Njolstad, non-voting secretary of the Nobel Committee, told DPA.
The committee in October selected President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia as the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, citing his role in ending a more-than-50-year-long civil war.
Santos tweeted that he regretted her death and noted how she had 'supported reconciliation in Colombia.
Kullmann Five, who was 65, was the first woman to lead Norway's Conservative party a post she had from 1991-1994.
She served in parliament from 1981 to 1997 and was trade minister from 1989 to 1990.
She was known for her interest in gender equality and foreign affairs, and supported Norwegian membership in the European Union.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg, current leader of the Conservatives, said that Kullmann Five had been a pioneer, while Foreign Minister Borge Brende said he would miss a friend and inspiration.
Former Norwegian prime ministers and Labour Party leaders Gro Harlem Brundtland and Jens Stoltenberg also mentioned her pioneering role.
Nobel Committee member Thorbjorn Jagland said her passing was 'too early and lauded her efforts to safeguard the prestige of the prize.
Jagland, a former Labour Party leader and ex-premier and foreign minister, was chairman of the five-strong panel from 2009 to 2015.
He was succeeded by Kullmann Five.
Njolstad and deputy chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said in a statement distributed by news agency NTB that the committee had lost 'a wise and unifying leader.
Kullmann Five missed out on the December 10 award ceremony in Oslo City Hall because of her illness.
Reis-Andersen read her speech at the ceremony, which was attended by Santos, among others.
Committee members are appointed by the Norwegian parliament.
The committee normally keeps a tight lid on its deliberations, as well as advising nominators not to publicly announce their choices.
Njolstad later said Reiss-Andersen would serve as chairwoman until May, when the committee is next scheduled to meet.
'At that meeting, the committee will reconstitute itself and elect a new chair, he told broadcaster NRK, adding Tone Jorstad would join the committee as a substitute member.
A record 376 nominations were considered in 2016.
It was not clear when the committee would announce its tally of nominees for this year.
The peace prize is one of the awards endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.
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