Martti Ahtisaari, Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the tenth president of Finland from 1994 to 2000, has died at the age of 86, according to the Finnish presidency.

Ahtisaari, known in world diplomacy for his mediating ability and his contact with all sides of the conflicts patiently awaiting the time for compromise, he refused to accept that wars and conflicts are inevitable.

He is known for his peace mediation in war zones such as Kosovo, Indonesia, Northern Ireland and Namibia.

“Peace is a matter of will. All conflicts can be resolved and there are no excuses for allowing them to be perpetuated”, said Marti Ahtisaari when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008.

Finland’s UN diplomat has brokered talks between the Indonesian government and the separatists of the Free Aceh Movement, after a three-decade war that has left 15,000 dead.

Peace talks began in Helsinki in January 2005 and ended six months later with a peace deal that few observers believed.

The two sides then described an unyielding man during the talks, but with a special sense of humor and great human warmth on the sidelines of the negotiations.

“I have enormous patience. I don’t tend to get angry, but I can be cruel,” he later said, adding that he believes the key to his success is his ability to understand people.

Kosovo, however, remains a failure for this tireless soldier of peace who believed he could bring Kosovo Serbs and Albanians together and overcome the horrors of the 1998-1999 war.

At the end of 2005, he was tasked by the UN Security Council to oversee the talks between Serbs and Kosovars on the future status of the province.

In March 2007, he ends the talks, advocates independence and surrenders his mandate. The last round of negotiations, held without him, fails and Kosovo unilaterally declares its independence on February 17, 2008.

Ahtisaari retired from public life in September 2021, stricken with Alzheimer’s.