10/10/2008
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced that Finland's ex-president Martti Ahtisaari has won the Nobel Peace Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the selection Friday, giving him the prize “for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts.” His name had been mentioned in speculation leading up to the prize for his efforts in Europe and Asia.
Finland's former ruler got the Prize for a long career of peace mediation work including a 2005 accord between Indonesia and rebels in its Aceh province. The Norwegian Nobel Committee chose Ahtisaari to receive the $1.4 million prize from a field of 197 candidates. Ahtisaari, who was Finland's president from 1994 to 2000, has had a diplomatic career stretching from Africa to the Balkans. He has been a favorite to win for years.
The prize will be handed over in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death in 1896 of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel who created the awards.
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