Ramaphosa pays tribute to former Finnish leader Martti Ahtisaari

Ahtisaari died on Monday at the age of 86.

Ahtisaari was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008 for his role as an independent mediator and contribution to ending conflicts in Namibia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland and Indonesia.

He was also the founder of the conflict resolution foundation, Crisis Management Institute—Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation and was a member of The Elders, a group of former senior world leaders founded by the late former president Nelson Mandela.

Ramaphosa said he will remember Ahtisaari as a man of peace, a tough negotiator who displayed great compassion and deep respect for people.  

He worked with Ahtisaari in the late 1990s when they brokered the Good Friday agreement that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland.

"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 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.  

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