The Peacekeeper from the North
THE conflict in Aceh, one of the longest armed conflicts worldwide that has claimed a large number of lives, has ended. The peace dialog in Helsinki in August 2005 was facilitated by the Crisis Management Initiative. Managed by a small staff, this organization succeeded in convincing GAM to agree to destroy its weaponsthe most difficult part of every peace dialog. Tempo journalist Nezar Patria observed the role of the peacekeepers during a visit to Helsinki last month. Raihul Fadjri and Kurie Suditomo completed the report with similar cases from Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka.
September 27, 2005
MARTTI Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, recalled the telephone ringing on a Saturdaydisturbing his restat the end of last year. The 68-year-old was not particularly happy to be disturbed by political problems on his day off. He came out of his room and reluctantly picked up the phone on his desk. At the time, the weather in Helsinki was extremely cold.
If it had not been Tapani Ruokanen, the chief editor of the renowned Finnish news weekly
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