Ex-President Ahtisaari does not want to be Nobel candidate any more

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Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari said on Friday that he does not want his name to be put forward again as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
      "I do not want to be the target of this kind of speculation every year", Ahtisaari told Helsingin Sanomat in a telephone interview from Vienna.
      Before this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was announced on Friday last week, Ahtisaari was seen as a likely winner by betting shops and the media.
     
This year’s winner was Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, founder of the Grameen Bank, which specialises in microcredits to help people out of poverty.
      "I am somewhat familiar with the work that they do, and it is excellent", Ahtisaari said.
      "I had a feeling that it would not come to me. If my chances were good in any year, then it was this year."
      Ahtisaari has been seen as a potential Nobel Peace Prize winner in years past as well, but this year the chances were seen more likely than ever.
     
One reflection of the hype surrounding Ahtisaari was that a number of Finnish media outlets, including Helsingin Sanomat, had sent journalists to Vienna, which is the home base for Ahtisaari's latest mission.
      However, the expectations were not high among Finns alone. Foreign media were on the move much earlier, according to Ahtisaari’s Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) office.
     
Ahtisaari was approached. by global media outlets, including CNN and Reuters news agency. Norwegian papers were particularly eager to promote Ahtisaari as a likely Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
      Ahtisaari was a key figure in helping negotiate a peace agreement between the Indonesian government and Aceh rebels, as well as brokering peace with Yugoslavia. Now he is involved in some very difficult negotiations over the status of Kosovo. Ahtisaari had hired a spokesperson to deal with the Nobel-related inquiries.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ahtisaari says chances for Nobel Prize "slightly better than last year" (10.10.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat