Colombia's President Santos says Farc deal must rebuild country
olombia's President Juan Manuel Santos says peace with the Farc rebel group will boost economic growth and enable the country to rebuild its social fabric.
"War is always more costly than peace," he said in an interview with the BBC.
Mr Santos and Farc leader Timoleon Jimenez, known as Timochenko, will sign a historic peace deal later on Monday.
But it will take a long time for Colombian society to recover from more than five decades of conflict, he said.
The Farc will be relaunched as a political party as part of the deal, which is due to be put to Colombian voters in a popular vote on 2 October.
"We could have grown between 2% and 3% more per year for the past 23 years," Mr Santos told the BBC's Lyse Doucet, adding that the conflict had also had a profound impact on Colombian society.
"We have even lost our compassion, which is the ability to feel some kind of pain for others.
"A country at war for 50 years is a country that has destroyed many of its values," said President Santos.
Who are the Farc?
The guerrilla leader who talks peace
Analysis: BBC chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet
Colombia's peace deal makes history in many ways, most of all for ending the last of the Cold War conflicts. But it also breaks new ground in trying to balance the desire for peace with the demands of justice which bedevil all peace talks.
There's no amnesty, unlike all previous peace accords in the region. The Farc, as well as Colombia's security forces, have accepted special tribunals and a truth and reconciliation process.
Many of the victims of the Farc's brutality have been brought into the process. If polls are to be believed, a majority will vote to accept this deal. But I kept meeting people in Bogota and Cartagena who said they'll vote no.
Fifty years of war also means decades of hatred and mistrust. Many doubt that the Farc will give up all its lucrative criminal activities. Will this deal also make history in being a peace deal which doesn't fall apart?
'Victory for everybody'
The peace agreement was sealed after nearly four years of talks, which were held in the Cuban capital, Havana.
"The signature of the deal is simply the end of the conflict. Then the hard work starts: reconstructing our country," he said.
Senior members of the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) voted unanimously to ratify the deal on the last day of their conference on Friday.
The Farc's 52-year fight
1964: Set up as armed wing of Communist Party
2002: At its height, it had an army of 20,000 fighters controlling up to a third of the country. Senator Ingrid Betancourt kidnapped and held for six years along with 14 other hostages
2008: The Farc suffers a series of defeats in its worst year
2012: Start of peace talks in Havana
2016: Definitive ceasefire
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