The tale behind mediators of Aceh peace talks in Helsinki

The tale behind mediators of Aceh peace talks in Helsinki

Yenni Kwok, Jakarta

As the envoys of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian
government prepare to meet again in Helsinki for a fourth round
of negotiations this month, little is known about the facilitator
of these talks, the Helsinki-based Crisis Management Institute
(CMI).

Who are they? Why are they interested in mediating a conflict
thousands of miles away? And how were they able to persuade these
two embittered parties to sit down together in the same room?

The success of the CMI in facilitating the talks is largely
attributed to its founder and chairman of the board, former
Finland president Martti Ahtisaari. The 68-year-old seasoned
diplomat not only has personally sat in as the mediator at every
set of talks, but he also privately convinced the rebel leaders
and the Indonesian government to return to the negotiating table.

"President Ahtisaari met with GAM representatives sometime in
early July last year to discuss the possibilities of the talks,"
said Pauliina Arola, the executive director of the CMI. "Prior to
that, he had the opportunity to speak with representatives of the
government of Indonesia, including when he was still the
president of Finland."

The devastating effects of the Dec. 26 tsunami in Aceh helped
jump-start the negotiations, Arola added. When the two parties
met in Helsinki last January, it was their first talks since a
cease-fire agreement, brokered by the Geneva-based Henri Dunant
Centre, collapsed in May 2003.

Ahtisaari has a long diplomatic career and credentials in
conflict mediation. Prior to joining the UN in 1977, he worked
for several years as the Finnish ambassador to several African
countries. He left the UN in 1991 when he was appointed the
Finnish foreign minister -- a position he held when he won the
presidential election in 1994. Ahtisaari was involved in
resolving and mediating conflicts in Namibia, Bosnia, Kosovo and
Northern Ireland.

He regards his involvement in negotiating a peace deal with
Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic as a high point of his
presidency. "In that role, he represented the international
community, not Finland directly," said Matti Kalliokoski, a
former aide to Ahtisaari and the current vice chairman of the
CMI board. "He was motivated and wanted to use all the knowledge
and contacts he had accumulated during his presidency and earlier
in his career."

However, having spent much of his career overseas, Ahtisaari
was largely seen as an outsider in Finnish politics. When his
presidency ended in 2000, he did run for reelection. Instead, he
set up the CMI, initially to support his international
activities.

"Now he is back to what he really loves and what he is really
good at: diplomacy, crisis resolution and international affairs,"
says one Finnish journalist. "He is one of those very few people
on this level who is trusted with assignments such as the Aceh
negotiations."

Arola said Ahtisaari's international standing and good
connections could bring "added value and leverage" to the peace
talks. The fact that the European Commission is financing much of
the negotiations and the Finnish government is arranging security
is seen as adding further credibility to the mediator.

Finland is not the only Nordic country with experience in
mediating a conflict on the other side of the world. Norway
facilitated the peace process between the Sri Lankan government
and the Tamil Tigers in 2000, and succeeded in brokering a cease-
fire agreement in 2002.

Norway is perhaps better remembered for sponsoring secret
negotiations between Israel and Palestine, which resulted in the
Oslo Accords in 1993. It also helped facilitate peace talks in
the Mindanao conflict in the Philippines and participated in
international peacekeeping coalitions in Somalia,
Ethiopia/Eritrea, Sudan and Guatemala.

But having seen its Sri Lankan negotiations suspended
indefinitely in 2003 because of an internal political feud in
Colombo, and with the ongoing violence in the Middle East, Norway
has some words of advice. "Peace facilitation is always a
laborious process that requires patience," says Eirik Bergensen,
spokesperson for the Norwegian foreign ministry. "The
contribution of international partners plays a vital role in
reaching a political solution."

Indeed, there is a sense that Finland is ambitious to follow
in the steps of Norway. This was clearly conveyed in a recent
article about the CMI in the Helsingin Sanomat, the leading
Finnish-language newspaper, which stated: "Norway is becoming a
humanitarian superpower, why not Finland?"

"Most people in Finland didn't know much about Aceh before the
tsunami, but suddenly Aceh was in the news every day," says the
Finnish journalist. "Finns in general are proud about the Aceh
peace talks, that they are taking place here, and that Ahtisaari
is in charge of them."

Although the CMI was first set up as a non-governmental
organization to support Ahtisaari's activities, it has evolved
into a more independent organization over past few years,
initiating and running projects of its own. Nevertheless, many
Finns still regard the CMI as "the Office of President
Ahtisaari".

Staffed by only 13 people, the institute is actively doing
research projects and pursuing dialog with political leaders,
academics and NGO activists around the world, but primarily in
Africa, where Ahtisaari did his diplomatic service, as well as in
Central Asia and the South Caucasus, where recent popular
uprisings ousted authoritarian regimes. The institute also acts
as a consultant to the Finnish-Tanzanian-sponsored Helsinki
Process on Globalization and Democracy, a dialog group that tries
to bridge the North-South economic and political divide.

The CMI is careful not to be overly optimistic about the
outcome of the Aceh talks. "Nothing is agreed before everything
is agreed, so we might need to wait until the end of July or
early August," Arola said.

She added, "The success, if there is any, will be based on the
will and determination of the parties and their willingness to
end the conflict, not on the work of the facilitator."