Martti Ahtisaari 
Photo: Namibia Media Holdings Library
Martti Ahtisaari Photo: Namibia Media Holdings Library

Geingob sings praise for departed Ahtisaari

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STAFF REPORTER
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former president of Finland Martti Ahtisaari died yesterday at the age of 86. In Namibia, he is best remembered for serving as the special representative who headed the United Nations Transition Assistance Group (Untag), which monitored the peace process and elections that led to independence in 1990.

In a tribute yesterday, President Hage Geingob said: “I have learnt with utmost sadness about the passing of Martti Ahtisaari, a friend of the Namibian liberation struggle and a leading peacemaker who played a pivotal role in midwifing the birth of a new Namibia”.

He added: "Major parts in the history of Namibia would be incomplete without the name of former president Ahtisaari. As a Fin, he understood fully our quest for freedom and justice".

An icon in the imagination of the Namibian people, Ahtisaari was inscribed as an honourary Namibian citizen, with streets and schools named after him, Geingob said.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-22

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