Martti Ahtisaari, Finnish Leader and Nobel Laureate, Dies at 86

Nobel Peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari, who served as Finland's 10th president between 1994 and 2000, died on Monday at the age of 86, the Finnish president's office said in a statement.Ahtisaari was celebrated around the world for brokering peace in conflict zones in Kosovo, Indonesia and Northern Ireland. He refused to accept that wars and conflicts were inevitable."Peace is a question of will. All conflicts can be settled, and there are no excuses for allowing them to become eternal," Ahtisaari said when he accepted the Nobel award in 2008. His global fame boosted the image of Finland as it emerged from the shadow of the former Soviet Union.At home, Ahtisaari was always a political outsider. But it was that very lack of political ties helped him to win Finland's first direct presidential election, in 1994, at the helm of the opposition Social Democrats.As president, he supported Finland's European Union membership and encouraged voters to support the 1994 accession referendum, which passed with 57 percent support.