FORMER PRESIDENT of Finland Marrti Ahtisaari has said he is "very pleased and thankful" for being awarded this year's Nobel Peace Price, after 30 years helping to end conflicts from Kosovo to Indonesia - and even Northern Ireland.
The 71-year-old diplomat, who trained as a primary school teacher, is the first Finn to win the prize. He was singled out by the Norwegian Nobel awards committee yesterday for encouraging "fraternity between nations".
"He is a world champion when it comes to peace and he never gives up," said Ole Danbolt Mjoes, chairman of the award committee.
After joining the Finnish foreign ministry in 1965, Mr Ahtisaari spent his first 20 years in foreign postings, including as ambassador to Tanzania and then in 1977 at the UN in New York.
His first role as a UN special envoy was in Namibia negotiating with guerrillas fighting South African apartheid rule. He first came to world attention when he helped bring about Namibian independence in 1990, which he said yesterday remained his proudest achievement.
After serving one term as Finland's first directly-elected president, presiding over Finland's EU accession, he went back to full-time mediation and helped resolve conflicts in areas as diverse as central Asia, the Horn of Africa and Northern Ireland.
As part of a mediation troika during the Kosovo war, he helped persuade Serb president Slobodan Miloševic to accept Nato's terms for ending the conflict.
In 2000 he drafted a report on Austria's political and human rights situation after the far-right Freedom Party entered government to widespread concern across Europe.
In 2001 he played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process as an independent arms inspector. Three years ago, he mediated a successful end to hostilities between rebels and Indonesian forces in Aceh, a decades-old conflict that had claimed 15,000 lives. That made him a favourite for the Nobel Peace Prize, even after he proved unable to reconcile Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo ahead of its declaration of independence earlier this year. Yesterday's announcement generated a worldwide flood of good wishes.
Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan praised his former special representative as "the only man I know who has made peace on three continents". A spokesman for the Indonesian government praised Mr Ahtisaari as "fair, tough [and] solution-oriented".
President Tarja Halonen of Finland praised her predecessor, with whom she had coincidentally arranged lunch yesterday, for "helping build a more peaceful and fairer world".
She welcomed the award, too, as a recognition of Finland's long tradition of peacekeeping and expressed hope that the recognition "will serve as an incentive for us all to work for peace and justice".
The news prompted cool reactions in Moscow and Belgrade. The Russian government was never happy with Mr Ahtisaari's vision of an independent Kosovo, while Serbians see him as a leading player in the break-up of their country.
Mr Ahtisaari said he was pleased the Nobel committee had returned to recognising traditional peacemakers. Recent winners included micro-credit banker Muhammad Yunus and, last year, Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The award carries with it a cash prize of $1.5 million (€1.1). Mr Ahtisaari said he would use the money to fund his Crisis Management Initiative, which he set up eight years ago. Asked the secret of a good mediator, the 71-year-old replied with characteristic Finnish frankness: "You have to be straightforward."