TV Hails Ahtisaari’s Nobel Award, “Person Behind the Idea of Kosovo’ Statehood”

Text of report by Kosovo Albanian privately-owned KohaVision TV, on 10 October

[Announcer] The person behind the idea for Kosovo’s independence, which is gaining international recognition, former Finish President Martti Ahtisaari [UN envoy for Kosovo status talks] has won the Nobel Peace Prize. He is praised for his contribution in resolving conflicts in many areas of the world. Kosovo and world leaders congratulated him. Belgrade, on the other hand, cannot believe that such a thing is happening, following the blow it received from Montenegro and Macedonia.

[Reporter] He spent almost 30 years mediating to stop conflicts and bring peace in many places of the world and at 70, the person behind the idea of Kosovo’s statehood, former Finish President Martti Ahtisaari, is finally recognized. Among 197 candidates from the whole world the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee has decided to announce Ahtisaari as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace for this year.

The text of recognition reads that the Prize is given to him for his continuous contribution to peace mediation. I am very honoured and thankful, Ahtisaari said soon after he was declared a winner. Ahtisaari played an important role in negotiations that led to the independence of Namibia from South Africa in 1990 and he considers it as his biggest achievement. As an EU representative Ahtisaari managed to convince [Slobodan] Milosevic to accept NATO’s conditions to end the war in Kosovo. In 2000 he left Finish politics and raised the initiative for crisis management which works for the promotion of peace. In 2001 he was a weapon’s inspector in Northern Ireland. He mediated the end of a 30-year-old conflict between Indonesia and the rebel province of Ache, which took the lives of 15 thousand people.

At the end of 2005 the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed him a UN special envoy for Kosovo Status Talks. Ahtisaari came to Kosovo as the chief mediator for the first time in January 2006 and he met President Ibrahim Rugova, who headed the negotiating team. Status talks lead by him began in February of the same year. Ahtisaari would invite Pristina and Belgrade representatives to Vienna and sometimes would come to listen to them in their respective capitals. After he listened to them for two years and understood that he could never bring their positions close he decided to draft his own proposal. In his office in Vienna, from where he spoke for KohaVision in February 2007, he had his plan for independence ready. Later he revealed his plan in Pristina and Belgrade, the plan called for the internationally supervised independence of Kosovo. He offered practical solutions of high standards for the Serb minority in Kosovo; this was welcomed internationally. After another failed round of talk headed by the Troika, the Kosovo Assembly voted in favour of Ahtisaari’s plan and this was used as the basis for the declaration of independence.

The Assembly welcomed his winning of the Peace Prize. Kosovo MPs said that this would lead to further recognition of Kosovo and that it could be seen as a victory for Kosovo as well. Kosovo President Fatmir Sejdiu congratulated Ahtisaari. He said that Ahtisaari deserved the prize because of his efforts for peace not only in Kosovo. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said that Ahtisaari was a great friend of peace and that the Nobel Prize for Peace was given to a person who has merits and who did so much throughout the world in resolving conflicts and in reaching peace.

There were positive reactions from many countries which live in peace due to Ahtisaari’s mediation. The EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Police Javier Solana said Ahtisaari deserved the prize fully since in his career, his determination to promote international peace, justice and reconciliation was strong.

Berlin also welcomed the decision, adding that Ahtisaari’s main accomplishment was the resolution of Kosovo conflict, whereas, the French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner praised Ahtisaari for his courage and determination to resolve problems in many places of crisis.

Nevertheless, the news on Ahtisaari’s victory in Serbia came at a time when this country has not yet come to senses from the shock it experienced from Kosovo recognition by Podgorica and Skopje. The first to react to the news was former Serbian PM Vojislav Kostunica who for many times sat on the same table with him. According to him, the fact that Ahtisaari got the Nobel Prize for Peace speaks of the fact that the mentors of the state of Kosovo are exercising pressure in all directions.

The MPs of all political parties in the Serbian Assembly have denounced this decision. Meanwhile, Kosovo Serbs say that Ahtisaari is the last person that should have got the Nobel Prize. Nonetheless, officially the Nobel Prize for Peace will be given to Ahtisaari on 10 December. He will be awarded a 1.4m dollars, funds he will use for his organization that promotes peace in the world.

Originally published by KohaVision TV, Pristina, in Albanian 1700 10 Oct 08.

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