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.