Ahtisaari proposed for Nobel peace prize after RI peace accord

Ahtisaari proposed for Nobel peace prize after RI peace accord

Agence France-Presse, Helsinki

Finland's parliament plans to nominate former president Martti Ahtisaari for the 2006 Nobel peace prize for his successful negotiations, most recently with Indonesia's Aceh rebels, a Finnish lawmaker said on Wednesday.

During three decades as a diplomat, Ahtisaari "is a prominent figure who has succeeded many times in important peace negotiations," said Lissa Jaakonsaari, the Social Democrat president of the parliament's foreign affairs commission.

On Aug. 15, the 68-year-old Finnish leader's negotiating skills led to the signing of a peace accord in Helsinki between the Indonesian government and the separatist rebels in Aceh province, ending a 29-year conflict which left some 15,000 people dead.

His diplomatic career successes go back to the independence of Namibia in 1990, followed by work in the former Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland.

In 1999, at the height of the Balkan crisis in Kosovo, he took part in talks with then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic which put an end to the NATO bombing of Kosovo, embroiled in fighting between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.

A former United Nations under-secretary general, Ahtisaari, backed by the Social Democrats, became the first Finnish president directly elected by universal suffrage in 1994.

"I think this time needs this kind of person and it would be nice if he could get some recognition," said Jaakonsaari, adding that the proposed Nobel nomination would be approved by the parliamentary commission next month.

According to the Finnish press, Ahtisaari has already been nominated twice for the distinguished peace prize, in 2000 and 2001.

The name of the 2005 Nobel Peace laureate will be announced in October.