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Martti Ahtisaari, the former President of Finland who passed away on 16th October aged 86, was a peacemaker without boundaries.
The Nobel Peace Prize he won in 2008 acknowledged an extraordinarily enduring body of work advancing tolerance and peace, from Namibia to the Indonesian province of Aceh, and from Kosovo to Serbia, to Northern Ireland and Iraq.
In 2009 he joined The Elders, an independent group of global leaders, then chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Among other assignments undertaken for The Elders, he worked with the Archbishop and former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, in South Sudan, and with former US President Jimmy Carter and former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland in Korea.
During my service on The Elders’ Advisory Board, it was my privilege to witness this A-team of human leaders fervently going about their business – at a point in their lives that they really had nothing else to prove – with modesty, compassion and 100% commitment to human rights and the principles of equality and justice. Mr Ahtisaari embodied this commitment.
As a Swede of South African extraction, I was particularly drawn to the perspective of an important Nordic leader on Scandinavia’s support for the anti-apartheid movement, and the fledgling South African democracy. He dearly wanted South Africa to succeed.
The Archbishop loved Mr Ahtisaari because although they came from different ends of the earth, and navigated very different paths to leadership, they were kindred spirits, servant leaders in the service of humanity and a world of fairness.
They shared a deep understanding of human inter-dependence.
Events such as the war in Ukraine, the ongoing slide to environmental catastrophe, and Palestine facing imminent human rights calamity, put the loss of leaders of the caliber of Mr Ahtisaari in grim perspective.
Another mighty peace tree has fallen, and the forest is much poorer as a result.
The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation expresses heartfelt condolences to Mr Ahtisaari’s family. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.