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."