Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland and global peace broker who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his work in resolving international conflicts, died Monday at the age of 86.
The foundation he founded to prevent and resolve violent conflict said he died Monday. A statement from the foundation said it was “deeply saddened by the loss of its founder and chairman of the board.”
In 2021, the foundation announced that Ahtisaari was suffering from an advanced stage of Alzheimer’s disease.
Among his most notable achievements are Ahtisaari helping to reach peace agreements related to the withdrawal of Serbian troops from Kosovo in the late 1990s, Namibia’s efforts for independence in the 1980s, and the autonomy of the province of Aceh in 2005. He was also involved in the process of peace in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s, with the task of monitoring the disarmament process of the IRA terrorist group.
When the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee selected Ahtisaari in October 2008 as its laureate, the committee praised him “for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.”
Ahtisaari, who served as president of Finland for a six-year term – from 1994 to 2000, then founded the Helsinki-based Crisis Management Initiative, which aims to prevent and resolve violent conflicts through informal dialogue and mediation. (uh/ab)