Oslo, Oct 9 (IANS): The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, a coalition of civil society groups, has won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced here on Friday.

The committee said the Quartet was formed in 2013 when the democratization process in Tunisia was in danger of collapsing as a result of political assassinations and widespread social unrest.

The grouping established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war, the announcement said.

The National Dialogue Quartet consists of four key organisations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

The Quartet exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority, the statement added.

The peace prize is the only one of the six Nobels to be announced in Oslo.

The Arab Spring began in Tunisia with protests that brought down the government of long-time ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, but the country fell into crisis in the following years.