Martti Ahtisaari é Nobel da Paz de 2008

Ahtisaari, um Senhor... Um Prémio bem atribuído. Aos 71 anos, o mais recente Nobel da Paz demonstra bom humor e vontade de continuar a trabalhar. O Comité Nobel atribuiu o galardão a Martti Ahtisaari para recompensar mais de três décadas como mediador na resolução de vários conflitos internacionais em África, na Ásia e na Europa. No palácio presidencial em Helsínquia, o antigo chefe de Estado finlandês sublinhou que “em breve será estabelecida uma fundação” com o seu nome, com a ideia de que quando se reformar – o que, garantiu, não acontecerá a curto prazo – os seus colegas “vão dar continuidade ao trabalho que iniciaram em conjunto”. Em relação à possível justificação para ter recebido agora o Nobel da Paz e não em anos anteriores quando já era dado como favorito, Ahtisaari diz com humor que fez 70 anos no ano passado e os amigos aperceberam-se de que “está a ficar velho, por isso têm-se estado a despachar”. Ahtisaari considera o papel na condução pacífica da Namíbia à independência, em 1990, como a sua “mais importante” missão. Mas o seu legado passa por uma longa e preenchida carreira diplomática. Ahtisaari distingui-se nomeadamente ao longo de quinze anos de activismo pela paz nos Balcãs. Os esforços de Ahtisaari como mediador são indissociáveis das negociações sobre o estatuto final do Kosovo, que acabou por declarar unilateralmente a independência em Fevereiro. Em 2005, o ex-presidente finlandês e a sua organização – a Iniciativa para a Gestão de Crises – tiveram um papel central na resolução de trinta anos de guerra entre o governo indonésio e os rebeldes independentistas da província de Aceh. Ahtisaari vai receber o Nobel da Paz a 10 de Dezembro em Oslo, acompanhado de um prémio de cerca de um milhão de euros.

OSLO, Norway - Finland's ex-president Martti Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to build a lasting peace from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Middle East. [link]

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honoured 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, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel awards committee.

The award, he said, was in line with recent Nobels to other peace mediators, notably Jimmy Carter in 2002 and U.S. Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2001.

Ahtisaari told AP Television News that while winning the prize would help his future mediation work, he is looking to other challenges, too, particularly youth unemployment worldwide.

But he also conceded that the decades of work have taken a toll.

"I have to start realizing that I am 71" and maybe it's time to stop "travelling 200 days a year outside Finland."

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 in announcing the 10 million kronor (US$1.4 million) prize.

"For the past 20 years, he has figured prominently in endeavours 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 mentioned in speculation as a possible Nobel Peace Prize candidate since 2005, just after 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 that "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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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 United Nations in New York.

In 1994, Ahtisaari accepted the presidential candidacy of Finland's Social Democratic party and won the election. He did not seek re-election in 2000 and has since worked on international peace efforts.

In 2007, 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. Those talks, based on the format of peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland, included 16 delegates from the feuding groups. They "agreed to consult further" and begin reconciliation talks.

"He managed to get 36 senior Iraqis to Helsinki in April 2008, and is now working on a next meeting in Baghdad," Mjoes said of the efforts.

Damien Kingsbury, an Australian academic who was part of the Acehnese delegation during the Indonesia peace talks said Ahtisaari started off "from a very naive position. He was, by definition, pro-Indonesia, supporting the integrity of the state and dismissing Aceh's insistence on independence."

The Acehnese vehemently criticized Ahtisaari's position. But Kingsbury, in a telephone interview from Australia, said he "helped broker an agreement between the two parties that has proven to be sustainable."

Ahtisaari was 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 U.S. secretary general on former Yugoslavia in 1993.

Serbia bitterly rejected his attempts to forge a compromise settlement on Kosovo, which declared independence in February, but his blueprint forms the essence of Kosovo's constitution.

Ahtisaari's plan also laid down the guidelines for the deployment of a European Union police force in Kosovo and other key aspects of the way today's Kosovo is run day to day.

Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci hailed the Nobel selection as "the right decision for the right man."

"We proclaimed independence of Kosovo in accordance with the document of President Ahtisaari and Kosovo appreciates very much" that he won, Thaci told the AP.

The peace prize is presented in Oslo. Nobel prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics and economics are handed out in Stockholm, Sweden. The ceremonies are always on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.