Former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for his efforts to build a lasting peace from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Middle East.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Ahtisaari for important efforts over more than three decades to resolve international conflicts.
“These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to ‘fraternity between nations’ in Alfred Nobel’s spirit,” the committee said in announcing the prize.
By selecting Ahtisaari, 71, for the prize, the Nobel committee returned its focus to traditional peace work after tapping climate campaigner Al Gore and the UN panel on climate change last year.
“He is a world champion when it comes to peace and he never gives up,” said Ole Danbolt Mjoes, chairman of the Norwegian Nobel awards committee.
The secretive five-member committee said Ahtisaari’s work across the world — Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East — proved that such efforts can have a profound effect on peace processes.
“Through his untiring efforts and good results, he has shown what role mediation of various kinds can play in the resolution of international conflicts,” the committee said when announcing the 10 million kronor (US$1.4 million) prize.
“For the past 20 years, he has figured prominently in endeavors to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts,” the citation said, mentioning his work in conflicts from Namibia to Aceh, Indonesia, Kosovo and Iraq.
Ahtisaari had been listed as a possible Nobel Peace Prize candidate since 2005. In August that year, he negotiated an end to a conflict in Indonesia that began more than 140 years ago, bringing together the Indonesian government and the leaders of the separatist guerrilla movement in Aceh. He initiated and mediated peace talks in Finland and a peace agreement was signed in Helsinki.
“He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia and on the Horn of Africa,” the citation said.
Speaking to NRK Norwegian TV, Ahtisaari said he “was very pleased and grateful” to receive the prize.
Asked what work he considered the most important, Ahtisaari, the first Finn to win the prize, said: “Of course, Namibia is absolutely the most important because it took such a long time.”
He also singled out his work in Kosovo and Aceh.
Ahtisaari was a senior Finnish diplomat when in 1977 he was named the UN envoy for Namibia, where guerrillas were battling South African apartheid rule. He later rose to undersecretary-general, and in 1988 was dispatched to Namibia to lead 8,000 UN peacekeepers during its transition to independence.
Ahtisaari said he hoped the prize would make it easier to attract financing for his peace work.
“There are always many possibilities. I really hope now that I receive the prize that it makes it easier to finance the organizations that I chair,” he said. “It’s very important to be able to act properly, you need financing and you never have enough.”
Ahtisaari has had a broad career in politics and peacemaking.
A primary school teacher who joined Finland’s Foreign Ministry in 1965, he spent 20 years abroad, first as ambassador to Tanzania and then to the UN in New York.
In 1994, Ahtisaari accepted the presidential candidacy of Finland’s Social Democratic Party and won the election.
He did not seek reelection in 2000 and has since worked on international peace efforts.
Last year, Ahtisaari’s office — Crisis Management Initiative — started secret meetings in Finland between Iraqi Sunni and Shiite groups to agree on a road map to peace. They “agreed to consult further” and begin reconciliation talks.
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