|
Helsinki: Martti Ahtisaari, 71, was 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 United Nations in New York.
He was UN undersecretary of state for administration and management from 1987 to 1991, heading the UN operation that brought independence to Namibia in 1990.
In 2007, Ahtisaari's office - Crisis Management Initiative - started secret meetings in Finland between Iraqi Sunni and Shiite groups to agree on a roadmap to peace. Sixteen delegates from the feuding groups agreed to consult further.
In August 2005, Ahtisaari helped end 30 years of fighting between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government with peace talks in Finland, which he initiated and mediated. A peace agreement was signed in Helsinki.
Ahtisaari was also chairman of the Bosnia-Herzegovina working group in the international peace conference on former Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1993, and was special adviser to the UN secretary-general on former Yugoslavia in 1993.
Peace plan
He insisted he would not go to Belgrade unless Nato, the EU and Russia could agree on a Bosnia peace plan that also was palatable to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.
After his meeting with Milosevic, Ahtisaari reported that the Yugoslav president had accepted the terms, thus opening up a peace deal.
Ahtisaari worked as a secretary of state in the Finnish Foreign Ministry from 1991 to 1994, when he was elected president for a six-year term.
After that, he decided to open his own office in Helsinki, which has focused on international crises.
Earlier this month, he was awarded the Unesco Peace Prize for a "lifetime contribution to world peace". The president of the prize jury, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, said the achievements of Ahtisaari's Crisis Management Initiative "were also highly noted in the declaration of the prize".
Meanwhile, an interview with AP Television News, he said he hoped to work more on the issue of youth unemployment.
|
