Former Finnish president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari dies at the age of 86

Former Finnish president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martti Ahtisaari died on Monday October 16, at the age of 86, the Finnish presidency announced. “It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of President Martti Ahtisaari”the current president of the country, Sauli Niinisto, was moved in a press release.

President from 1994 to 2000, Martti Ahtisaari played the role of mediator in a large number of conflicts, from Indonesia to Kosovo and Namibia, obtaining numerous distinctions until the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. He was retired from public life in September 2021, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

The former UN diplomat led talks between the Indonesian government and the separatists of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), after a thirty-year war that left around 15,000 dead. Both sides described Martti Ahtisaari as uncompromising during the talks, but with a sense of humor and warmth outside the meetings. “I have a lot of patience. I’m not used to getting angry, but I can be tough”he later said, adding that he believed the key to his success was his ability to understand people.