President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to the former president of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari. Picture: Kopano Tlape/GCIS
President Cyril Ramaphosa has paid tribute to former president of Finland Martti Ahtisaari, who died this week.
Ramaphosa worked with Ahtisaari in the late 1990s when they brokered the Good Friday agreement that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Ramaphosa said on Wednesday that the Nobel Peace laureate had been involved in peace missions across the globe.
“I remember Martti Ahtisaari as my partner in Northern Ireland, where we both served as inspectors in the decommissioning of weapons process during the years 2000 and 2001. Martti had a wonderful sense of humour, which helped tremendously as we travelled the Irish countryside, counting weapons and placing plastic seal strappings through and around them.
“We were always aligned in our thinking, and as Martti noted in his biography, we were able to finish each other’s sentences. We completed this task when the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning announced that the IRA had rendered the quantity of arms completely beyond utilisation. It was a great privilege for both of us to have played a small part in the Northern Ireland Peace Process,” said Ramaphosa.
He said Ahtisaari had been involved in peace missions in various parts of the world and brokered peace in Kosovo, Indonesia, Northern Ireland, and Namibia.
The Desmond and Leah Legacy Foundation also paid tribute to Ahtisaari, 86, saying the current conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine remind the world of the need for the leaders of Ahtisaari’s stature.
It said his work was recognised all over the world, and the Nobel Peace Prize he won in 2008 bore testimony to this.
Chairperson of the foundation, Niclas Kjellström-Matseke, said Ahtisaari was an extraordinary leader.
“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 interdependence,” said Kjellström-Matseke.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
Politics