By Shipra Prakash
20 October 2008 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: Martti Ahtisaari, native of Finland and past Finnish President, grew up knowing conflict in his country. “I was born in the city of Viipuri, then still part of Finland. We lost Viipuri when the Soviet Union attacked my country,” he said in early October.
The consequences of the attack by the Soviet Union made a lasting impression on Ahtisaari.
“Along with 400,000 fellow Karelians I became an displaced person in the rest of Finland. With my mother I moved from one household to another before settling in the eastern part of Finland, in the city of Kuopio,” he said. “This experience, which millions of people around the world have gone through, provided me with sensitivity, which explains my desire to advance peace and thus help others who have gone through similar experiences as I did.”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with Martti Ahtisaari, Special Envoy for the Future Status Process for Kosovo in Feburary (Photo: UN/Mark Garten)
Ahtisaari’s desire brought him to intervene in conflict after conflict with positive results – after a period of working as a primary school teacher. Since leaving teaching, he has never hesitated or looked back towards the profession. First, he joined Finland’s Foreign Ministry in 1965. For twenty years he served as an ambassador to Tanzania and then to the United Nations in New York. He was also UN Secretary of State for administration and management from 1987 to 1991. Namibia’s independence in 1990 came as a result of the UN operation there, which Ahtisaari headed. Among the list of his other achievements is his role as a UN mediator on Kosovo and helping to the end the conflict in Indonesia’s Aceh province.
His work in war and peace has now earned him the Nobel Peace Prize.
The five-member Norwegian awards committee judging the Nobel Peace Prize contest cited these achievements and commended Ahtisaari for his efforts on international peace. “He has figured prominently in endeavours to resolve several and long-lasting conflicts,” it said. Here, the committee was referring to Namibia, Aceh, Kosovo and Iraq. “He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia and in the Horn of Africa,” the committee added. “These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world.”
Ahtisaari won a gold medal, diploma and $1.4 million. He said he hoped the prize money would help finance the organizations he chaired. One of these organizations is the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI). Born in 2000, the aim of CMI is to achieve sustainable security. One of the areas CMI was involved in was in Aceh province in Indonesia. “The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of Indonesia and Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM) – also known as the Free Aceh Movement – was negotiated with the help of President Ahtisaari and CMI,” Rikka Marjamaki, Special Assistant to Ahtisaari at CMI, told MediaGlobal.
More recently, CMI has been involved with the Iraqi conflict. Since 2007, the organization has held two meetings where both Iraqi Shia Muslim and Sunni Arab groups made efforts to bridge their differences – for the sake of peace.
Marjamaki said that it is not known how the Nobel Peace Prize money will be used, so it is not clear whether the CMI will receive any funds from it.
Ahtisaari’s mission will continue despite ongoing violence in Iraq and elsewhere – because of his deep conviction that in any situation, a path towards peace can be found. In a telephone interview with nobelprize.org three hours after the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, he said: “Every conflict can be solved. I think it’s a disgrace for the international community that we have allowed so many conflicts to become frozen, and we are not making a serious effort to solve them.”