Martti Ahtisaari, the former president of Finland, received the Nobel Peace Prize on
Oct. 10 for his efforts to resolve international conflicts. Ahtisaari also won the 2008 Delta Prize for Global Understanding from UGA and Delta Air Lines last spring.
“The Delta Prize Student Selection Committee showed great wisdom in putting Martti Ahtisaari on the short list for the Delta Prize Board, which named him the recipient of the 2008 Delta Prize,” said Betty Jean Craige, co-founder and co-director of the Delta Prize program. “Ahtisaari has spent his life helping societies in conflict to understand each other better and to work together. UGA should be proud that our students recognized him as a model international leader for peace before the rest of the world did.”
Ahtisaari, who founded the independent Crisis Management Initiative that helped broker peace between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement in 2005, also called for expanded roles of women in peace talks and greater support for multinational agencies, like the United Nations and European Union.
