Former President Martti Ahtisaari died in the early morning hours of Monday in the Finnish capital at the age of 86.
In addition to a long career as an international peace mediator and civil servant, Ahtisaari was the tenth president of Finland, serving 1994–2000.
Ahtisaari was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his contributions to international conflict resolution on several continents over more than three decades.
He played a pivotal role when Namibia achieved independence in 1989-90, arbitrated in Kosovo in 1999 and 2005-07, and helped to bring the long-lasting conflict in the Aceh province in Indonesia to an end in 2005.
Ahtisaari was born on June 23, 1937, in Vyborg, now part of Russia. He retired from public life due to progressing dementia in September 2021.
The Mara effect
Ahtisaari took over the presidency after Mauno Koivisto in 1994. He served for one term, until 2000.
As the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Ahtisaari received 53 percent of the votes in the second round of the direct national election, defeating former defence minister Elisabeth Rehn of the Swedish People's Party.
Ahtisaari's entry into the political arena gave rise to what was termed the "Mara effect" – referring to his nickname and the popularity of a political outsider independent of party apparatus who made a point of reaching out to the public.
One of his campaign promises was to travel the country to meet and talk with regular citizens about their concerns – a promise he kept with a series of visits to provincial centres, large and small.
Eyes on the West
When Ahtisaari took up the presidency, Finland was still bogged down in a deep economic depression, partly caused by the collapse of foreign trade after the demise of the Soviet Union less than three years earlier.
Politically, the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 also meant that Finland turned more towards the West.
In the year of Ahtisaari's inauguration, 1994, the Finns decided by referendum to join the European Union. Membership began at the start of the following year.
EU membership gave rise to friction between Ahtisaari and then-Prime Minister Esko Aho (Cen).
Ahtisaari drifted into a heated political disagreement with Aho about who would participate in EU summits, the president or the prime minister. During the term of the next prime minister, Paavo Lipponen (SDP) the dispute cooled.
There were almost half a million unemployed in Finland at the time. Ahtisaari backed the broadly-based coalition in power and publicly defended the government's tough spending cuts.
Ahtisaari was adamant that Finland should participate in all the international organisations made up of western democracies. In a magazine interview in 2014, he stated his backing for membership in Nato, saying that be believed that Finland should join alongside neighbouring Sweden and not solely out of concerns about Russian aggression.
"I would hope that at some point we would be able to make such a decision and I would hope that it would happen together with Sweden. I don't see any reason why the Swedes wouldn't also make a positive decision," Ahtisaari told the National Coalition Party magazine Nykypäivä in 2014 – nearly a decade before Finland joined the alliance, so far without Sweden.
In Ahtisaari's opinion, membership in the western military alliance would increase the trust of other countries in Finland and might increase international investment in the country.
Man of peace
Already long active in NGOs, Ahtisaari started his long official involvement in international affairs at the foreign ministry in 1965.
His work took him to Africa as an ambassador in his thirties. The networks created at that time were a valuable asset in later international assignments.
Ahtisaari was a representative of the UN several times, aiding in Namibia's journey to independence. Both Martti and his wife Eeva Ahtisaari were named honorary citizens of Namibia.
Recognition of an impressive life's work as a conflict mediator came after his presidency.
In 2008, Ahtisaari, who was 71 at the time, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his career as a mediator in international conflict resolution spanning more than three decades.
The prime reason cited by the Nobel Committee for awarding the Peace Prize to Ahtisaari was his work in reaching a 2005 agreement between the rebels of the Indonesian province of Aceh and the country's government, which ended a long period of armed conflict.
In addition, the committee pointed to Ahtisaari's contributions to the achievement of the independence of Namibia and the resolution of the Kosovo conflict. Ahtisaari also strongly influenced the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa.
Until incapacitated by deteriorating health, Ahtisaari continued his life's work at the Helsinki-based Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation - Crisis Management Initiative and as a member of the group of former senior world leaders known as the Elders, founded by Nelson Mandela.
Ahtisaari is survived by his wife Eeva, 87, and their son Marko Ahtisaari, artistic director of the Helsinki Festival and a former Nokia executive.
Ahtisaari will be honoured with a state funeral. The date has not yet been announced.
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