FLORENCIA, COLOMBIA: Two armed soldiers belonging to the Revolutionry Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) monitor the Berlin pass, 07 March, near Florencia, in the southern Caqueta province of Colombia, where cars are prevented from going through after the rebels decreed 06 March a ban on "travel on roads and waterways for six days". The rebels try to dissuade voters from casting their ballots in the 08 March elections for congress. According to the rebels, the elections 08 March are illegitimate because the left has been forced out of national politics, following the murder over the past years of thousands of Colombia's left-wing politicians and supporters. AFP PHOTO PEDRO UGARTE (Photo credit should read PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images)
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Colombian president extends ceasefire after meeting students

Decision follows referendum defeat for peace agreement

CNN  — 

Nobel Peace Prize winner and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has extended a ceasefire with FARC rebels in a bid to keep alive his nation’s hopes for an end to decades of strife.

The ceasefire was due to expire at the end of October. President Santos has extended it until the end of the year as he tries to breathe new life into a peace deal that was narrowly rejected by Colombians in a referendum earlier this month.

“I have made the decision to extend the bilateral ceasefire until the December 31,” Santos said, according to state-run news agency reports.

Santos, who won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to cement an agreement, is attempting to end the rebel group’s bloody, 52-year battle against the state.

BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - OCTOBER 02: 'No' supporters celebrate at a rally following their victory in the referendum on a peace accord to end the 52-year-old guerrilla war between the FARC and the state on October 2, 2016 in Bogota, Colombia. The guerrilla war is the longest-running armed conflict in the Americas and has left 220,000 dead. The plan called for a disarmament and re-integration of most of the estimated 7,000 FARC fighters. Colombians have voted to reject the peace deal in a very close vote. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - OCTOBER 02: 'No' supporters celebrate at a rally following their victory in the referendum on a peace accord to end the 52-year-old guerrilla war between the FARC and the state on October 2, 2016 in Bogota, Colombia. The guerrilla war is the longest-running armed conflict in the Americas and has left 220,000 dead. The plan called for a disarmament and re-integration of most of the estimated 7,000 FARC fighters. Colombians have voted to reject the peace deal in a very close vote. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
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An estimated 220,000 people have been killed in the conflict which has brought terror, misery and death to generations of Colombians – and displaced as many as 5 million people.

The armed guerrilla group seized territory, attacked government forces and pulled off high-profile kidnappings.

The FARC also hijacked planes and made millions trafficking cocaine, as well as forcing children to become soldiers in its war.

Colombians gather in the Bogota's Bolivar main square on September 26, 2016, to celebrate the historic peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombias (FARC). Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the FARC rebels, Rodrigo Londoño -- aka Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko -- are due to sign the historic peace deal to end a five-decade war. The conflict has drawn in several leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs, killing 260,000 people, leaving 45,000 missing and uprooting 6.9 million. / AFP / GUILLERMO LEGARIA (Photo credit should read GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/Getty Images)
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Peace deal rejected in close referendum

Last month, after lengthy talks, rebel leaders signed a peace accord with the government which was then narrowly rejected by the people of Colombia in a referendum.

After that defeat, Santos pledged to press ahead with peace efforts.

“I hear those that said ‘no’ and those that said ‘yes’ and we all want peace.

A supporter of the peace accord signed between the Colombian government and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, cries as she follows on a giant screen the results of a referendum to decide whether or not to support the deal in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016. Colombia's peace deal with leftist rebels was on the verge of collapsing in a national referendum Sunday, with those opposing the deal leading by a razor-thin margin with almost all votes counted.(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
A supporter of the peace accord signed between the Colombian government and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, cries as she follows on a giant screen the results of a referendum to decide whether or not to support the deal in Bogota, Colombia, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016. Colombia's peace deal with leftist rebels was on the verge of collapsing in a national referendum Sunday, with those opposing the deal leading by a razor-thin margin with almost all votes counted.(AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Ariana Cubillos/AP

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“Tomorrow we will get all our political parties together to continue dialogues and finding alternatives for peace. I will not give up, I will continue to fight for peace,” he said.

Santos said in a televised address Thursday that his decision to extend the ceasefire had come at the request of students he met with earlier in the day, the state-run Canal Institucional news agency reported.

“In the military, in the guerrillas, there are young people who are waiting, diligently waiting, to see what happens, hoping to never have to shoot again,” he said.

Former president opposed FARC deal

Although last month’s peace deal had overwhelming international support, former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez took a leading role in the campaign against it.

He argued that the deal offered impunity to FARC fighters and accused his successor, Santos, of conceding to FARC demands.

FARC leader Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri, said the referendum result would not sway former rebels from the path of peace.

CNN’s Natalie Gallon reported on this story in Atlanta.