Martti Ahtisaari

Martti Ahtisaari By: Jenny

Mini Biography

Ahtisaari was born on June 23, 1937 in Viipuri, Finland. He is the former president of Finland from March 1, 1994 to March 1, 2000. Ahtisaari spent several years as a diplomatic representative from Finland. From 1977 to 1981, he served as a United Nations Commissioner for Namibia working to secure the independence of Namibia from the republic of South Africa. Martti Ahitisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. Ahitisaari is now 72 years old and is now living in Vyborg, Russia.

Character Traits Ahtisaari is very generous. He spent a lot of his time helping to secure the independences of Namibia. Ahtisaari is also very responsible. When he was the president of Finland, he took responsibilities of a president and took care of his people.

Conflict The conflict happened in Arch, an area in Northern Sumatra which is one of Indonesia’s island. After American oil and gas companies began taking advantage of Aceh’s natural resources. A group of people called Free Aceh was organized to demand a share of the oil, gas, wealth, and independence for the people of Aceh. The Indonesian troops attacked the Free Aceh and thousand of people were killed.

Resolution The conflict between Aceh and Indonesia went on for many more years. After the years past, the Indonesian government invited Finland’s non-governmental organization, the Crisis Management Initiative, which was started by Ahtisaari, to help solve the conflict. Ahtisaari asked the people who came to the meeting that he held to solve the conflict that, “Do you want to win, or do you want peace?” In 2005, the answer was peace and Aceh and Indonesia agreed to stop the fighting.