Former Finnish president wins Nobel Peace Prize

OSLO, Norway - Finland's ex-president Martti Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his efforts to build a lasting peace from Africa and Asia to Europe and the Middle East.

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2008 to Martti Ahtisaari for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts. These efforts have contributed to a more peaceful world and to 'fraternity between nations' in Alfred Nobel's spirit," the committee said in announcing the prize.

By selecting Ahtisaari, 71, for the prize, the Nobel committee returned its focus to traditional peace work after tapping climate campaigner Al Gore and the U.N. panel on climate change last year.

The secretive five-member committee said that Ahtisaari's work across the world - Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East - proved that such efforts can have a profound effect on peace processes.

"Through his untiring efforts and good results, he has shown what role mediation of various kinds can play in the resolution of international conflicts," the committee said in announcing the 10 million kronor (US$1.4 million) prize.

"For the past 20 years, he has figured prominently in endeavors to resolve several serious and long-lasting conflicts," the citation said, mentioning his work in conflicts from Namibia and Aceh, Indonesia, to Kosovo and Iraq.

Ahtisaari had been listed as a possible Nobel Peace Prize candidate since 2005 after he negotiated an end to a conflict that began more than 130 years ago by bringing together the Indonesian government and the leaders of the separatist guerrilla movement in Aceh.

"He has also made constructive contributions to the resolution of conflicts in Northern Ireland, in Central Asia, and on the Horn of Africa," the citation said.

Speaking to NRK Norwegian TV, Ahtisaari said he "was very pleased and grateful" at receiving the prize.

Asked what work he considered the most important, Ahtisaari, the first Finn to win the prize, said that "of course Namibia is absolutely the most important because it took such a long time." He also singled out his work in Kosovo and Aceh.

Ahtisaari was a senior Finnish diplomat when in 1977 he was named the U.N. envoy for Namibia, where guerrillas were battling South African apartheid rule. He later rose to undersecretary-general, and in 1988 was dispatched to Namibia to lead 8,000 U.N. peacekeepers during its transition to independence.

Ahtisaari said he hoped the prize would make it easier to attract financing for his peace work.

"There are always many possibilities. I really hope now that I receive the prize that it makes it easier to finance the organizations that I chair," he said. "It's very important to be able to act properly, you need financing and you never have enough."

Ahtisaari has had a broad career in politics and in peacemaking.

A primary school teacher who joined Finland's Foreign Ministry in 1965, he spent 20 years abroad, first as ambassador to Tanzania and then to the United Nations in New York.

He was U.N. undersecretary of state for administration and management from 1987 to 1991, heading the U.N. operation that brought independence to Namibia in 1990.

In 1994, Ahtisaari accepted the presidential candidacy of Finland's Social Democratic Party and won the election. He did not seek re-election in 2000 and has since participated in various international peace efforts.

In 2007, Ahtisaari's office - Crisis Management Initiative - started secret meetings in Finland between Iraqi Sunni and Shiite groups to agree on a road map to peace.

The talks, based on the format of peacemaking efforts in South Africa and Northern Ireland, included 16 delegates from the feuding groups. They "agreed to consult further" on a list of recommendations to begin reconciliation talks, including resolving political disputes through nonviolence and democracy.

In August 2005, Ahtisaari helped end 30 years of fighting between Aceh rebels and the Indonesian government with peace talks in Finland, which he initiated and mediated with Crisis Management Initiative. A peace agreement, signed in Helsinki, followed seven months of negotiations between the two parties, which he initiated and mediated.

Ahtisaari was also chairman of the Bosnia-Herzegovina working group in the international peace conference on former Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1993, and was special adviser to the U.N. secretary-general on former Yugoslavia in 1993.

Although Serbia bitterly rejected Ahtisaari's attempts to forge a compromise settlement on Kosovo, which declared independence in February, his blueprint forms the essence of the new nation's constitution.

Ahtisaari's plan also laid down the guidelines for the deployment of a European Union police force in Kosovo and other key aspects of the way today's Kosovo is run day to day.

The peace prize is presented in Oslo while Nobel prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics and economics are handed out in Stockholm, Sweden. The ceremonies are always on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896. (newsobserver)

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Associated Press writer Matti Huuhtanen reported from Helsinki, Finland. Associated Press reporters Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, William J. Kole in Vienna and Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm also contributed to this report.

Associated Press writer Matti Huuhtanen reported from Helsinki, Finland.

East Timor President Speaks of Recovery After Assassination Attempt

East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta says his young country's optimism and economy have improved greatly since rebels wounded him in a February assassination attempt. Mr. Ramos-Horta spoke to host Carol Castiel of VOA's Press Conference USA in New York recently.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner said the attempted assassination has left him with painful nerve damage but no serious injury to his internal organs. He said the attack was a psychological shock for the East Timor people, but the situation has been stable since and economic growth has revived. He also gave his views on international issues. Mr. Ramos-Horta said that the era of a single superpower is over and that the United States on its own cannot address the many challenges facing humanity.

Mr. Ramos-Horta, who was considered as a possible candidate to succeed former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, says the United Nations must reform to become more representative and effective.

The longtime peace activist said he had wanted the United States to give weapons' inspectors more time before launching its invasion of Iraq in 2003. But he also said it was unacceptable for a mass murderer such as Saddam Hussein to be a head of state.

When asked about the U.S. presidential elections, Mr. Ramos-Horta praised both candidates. He said the election of an African-American as president would be an extraordinary public relations coup for the United States, a reference to Democratic candidate Barack Obama. (voanews)

Time to look after ourselves

When one brings up the notion of sustainability, immediately you can almost sense the reaction from people wary of environmental extremism. How do HUMANS fit in to this idea?

It’s a fair question and, obviously, must be key in any dialogue on sustainable development. But of course, without a healthy environment, where are humans? Waiting for a boat from their roof in New Orleans after a class-five hurricane? Rowing to their underwater home in Iowa after another one hundred year flood event?

Humans are already beginning to feel the effects of global climate change, whether it is these recent weather events, or less dramatic changes in weather patterns, such as the drought in East Timor, which has left 61 percent of the children there with stunted growth and 10 percent of the children in a state of acute malnutrition.

Critics point out that there will be winners and losers as the climate changes and, of course, that is true any time there is chaotic change, especially in the case of the unraveling of very old weather patterns.

Humans are a part of this system, and in many parts of the world, especially Europe, the need for employees to have a break from work is honored with standard four- and five-week vacations. This prevents burnout and helps keep companies competitive, as they don’t need to pay higher health costs, or the high cost of constantly training new employees.

In the U.S., this has not gone unnoticed, and the founders of Take Back Your Time Day report:

“It’s time to protect vacations before they disappear altogether. Unlike 127 other countries, the U.S. has no minimum paid-leave law. Australians have four weeks off by law, the Europeans four and five weeks. The Japanese two weeks. We have zero.  The lack of annual leave standards means many Americans never get time off.”

There is legislation in Congress that would change this and it’s called The Minimum Leave Protection, Family Bonding and Personal Well-Being Act of 2007. (I am guessing it was not a poet who conceived of this title.) This law, an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, would guarantee anyone who’s been at a job for at least a year would get three weeks of vacation. Most Americans support it.

As an Auburn resident, do YOU have enough vacation time? What would Congress do?

Sustainable Auburn is a regular column in the Auburn Reporter, created by Paul Nelson, who has covered sustainability issues

since 1990, and whose organization Global Voices Radio works

to expand the dialogue about the

need for sustainability through

the project of the same name.

Details at www.Sustainable Auburn.org (pnwlocalnews.com)

Kalendario AFF Championship

SUZUKI AFF CUP 2008

Qualifikasaun Phnom Penh-kamboja 17 - 25 OKTOBER, 2008

Olimpiade Staduim

1 - Filipina

2 - Timor Leste

3 - Kamboja

4 - Laos

5 - Brunei

Horario Oficial Qualificasaun Suzuki Cup - AFF

17 Okt 08

Filipina vs Timor Leste

Kamboja vs Laos

19 Okt 08

Timor Leste vs Kamboja

Brunei vs Filipina

21 Okt 08

Filipina vs Laos

Timor Leste vs Brunei

23 Okt 08

Laos vs Brunei

Kamboja vs Filipina

25 Okt 08

Brunei vs Kamboja

Laos vs Timor Leste

EAST TIMOR: Int'l Peacekeepers Not Key to Stability

DILI, Oct 6 (IPS) - East Timor’s political elite cannot leave the country’s stability up to the International Stabilisation Forces (ISF). They must unite and stop bickering for power, according to experts, academics and observers.

"Sustainability of stability of [East Timor] does not belong to foreign troops; it belongs to Timorese leaders on how to overcome their contradictions," Mari Alkatiri, former East Timorese Prime Minister, told IPS.

The fracture within East Timorese leadership surfaced in 2005. It reached its peak in 2006 and that caused divisions between those who are from the western and eastern parts of the country. The conflict caused 37 deaths, and over 100,000 Dili residents to flee their homes. It resulted in Alkatiri’s resignation as Prime Minister and the arrival of International Stabilisation Forces -- comprised of Australian and New Zealand troops.

The rivalry between Alkatiri and Xanana Gusmao, East Timor’s current Prime Minister, intensified when Gusmao formed his National Congress for the Reconstruction of East Timor (CNRT) party and directly challenged and competed against Fretilin -- the political party which won the last general elections. CNRT went on to form a coalition government with other political parties, including the Majority Parliamentary Alliance (AMP). This CNRT government has never been recognised by Fretilin.

"There are two people here if they can sit and really understand each other, then 80 percent problems of the country will be solved. I am ready to sit with Xanana Gusmao but not as a commander and a soldier," said Alkatiri to IPS at the Fretilin headquarters.

At present there are 750 Australian Defence Force personnel in East Timor; their task is to maintain the country’s stability. They are composed of a joint task force headquarters and Timor-Leste Battle Group Four.

"East Timor is one of [Australia’s] nearest neighbours; the country is still in difficulties, as a neighbour that has a lot of resources we are happy to help. We want a secure safe and prosperous East Timor on our doorstep," Peter Heyward, Australia’s ambassador for East Timor told IPS.

East Timor is seen as being quite strategic for Australia, due to its geographic location. Any foreign intrusion may use East Timor as its military launching base.

Stability in East Timor will also ease the bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia. "East Timor’s security cannot be assured without the help and cooperation of Indonesia, and Australia’s relationship with Indonesia cannot prosper if East Timor’s security remains a problem between us. Neither of us wants it to become a source of instability in our neighbourhood, and threatening our own security or complicating our bilateral relationship," reads a 2002 Australian Strategic Policy Institute paper entitled ‘New Neighbour, New Challenge, Australia and the security of East Timor’.

Gusmao recently requested more troops from Australia following a double assassination attempt on both himself and East Timor’s President on Feb. 11.

Although Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd distanced himself from his predecessor John Howard’s rhetoric in foreign policies, Australian strategic interest -- to be the influential power in the region -- is still his governing motive.

"The Asia-Pacific region will become more prosperous and its population will continue to grow. As nations grow and become more affluent, they also update their military forces," Rudd said in a speech to the Returned and Service League.

Rudd has indicated there is an increase of "the real growth of the defence budget by three percent per annum 2017–18". Australia was ranked 14th in the world by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 2007 in terms of its overall military expenditure.

"If Australia wants to create stability in the region, it is not by creating military muscle and aligning with the U.S., or aligning with other economic powers, it is by empowering, giving more credibility to the region itself," Loro Horta, an associate research fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, told IPS.

Apart from sending its troops to lead the ISF, Australia has been providing funding to East Timor. It is one of East Timor’s main donors, apart from Japan and China. It will donate over 100 million dollars over the next four years to the country.

The East Timor security situation has been improving but is still fragile. This is the rationale for the ADF not pulling out of East Timor. Political rivalries are brewing as the early 2009 election looms, and East Timor military reform has not progressed much.

Many were surprised when Gusmao combined the country’s security forces -- the Policia National de Timor Leste (PNTL) and Falintil-Forças de Defesa de Timor Leste (F-FDTL) -- under a joint command.

"F-FDTL should not be acting as a second police force, internal security function is police function, and army is for external security. In East Timor until just recently, the army is quite heavily involved in internal security through the joint command," John Virgoe, a researcher with the Brussels-based independent, non-profit, International Crisis Group (ICG) told IPS.

The "problem within F-FDTL and PNTL has not been solved, particularly within PNTL," said Alkatiri.

This is a crucial problem that the country faces in the future, and urgently needs to be addressed, if the ISF presence in East Timor is to be temporary.

There is an opportunity now for the political elite to put aside their differences and unite, while a secure space is created by the presence of ISF. It is something that the Timorese population is waiting for.

"It is up to Timorese leadership to use the breathing space to give opportunities and create jobs for the people. The problem with Timorese is we are united by an external foreign threat, but when it is not there any more we tend to turn to each other," Horta told IPS. (ipsnews.net)

FRETILIN MPs denounce threats by Prime Minister

FRENTE REVOLUCIONÁRIA DO TIMOR-LESTE INDEPENDENTEFRETILIN

Media Release

Dili, 3 October 2008

On September 28, 2008, Timor Leste's de facto Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, declared in Ainaro that a proposed 'March of Peace' sponsored by the largest party in the parliament, FRETILIN, would be crushed when it arrived in Dili. FRETILIN's leadership denounced this threat as illegal and dictatorial, in a media conference in Dili yesterday.

The Prime Minister's threat was also broadcast nationwide on radio and television. His exact words were: "I hear that you from here are preparing a March of Peace to Dili. I will wait for you there, and put you all in jail!"

FRETILIN President Francisco (Lu Olo) Guterres said, "I and many who heard those threatening words simply wish to ask why Mr Gusmao feels the need to threaten people who wish to demonstrate their political conviction and express their constitutional rights to undertake a march with totally peaceful intentions, to show peace, with a spirit of democracy.

Why are they the subject of threats from our nation's leaders to 'put you in jail'?""

I remind Mr Gusmao that according to our Constitution, in a state under the rule of law, it's not he who 'puts people in jail'", said Mr Guterres. "In a democratic state under the rule of law, only a court of law can 'put people in jail' and then only if it is proven in a court that they have breached the law. But it is certainly not the Prime Minister, or even the President or a Liurai (traditional feudal King) who can just do so because that is his wish. Not even the Army or the Police or the UN Police can jail anyone without a court order or warrant, and then only if the law is being broken."Only in a dictatorship like the old Portuguese Colonial dictatorship and the Suharto regime can a Prime Minister simply jail people without a trial as he wishes. But not in a sovereign, constitutional and democratic Timor-Leste," declared Guterres.Clause 42 of the Constitution of the RDTL gives everyone the freedom and right to demonstrate within the law. Timor-Leste has ratified the UN Charter and Conventions that also guarantee these rights and freedoms.According to Guterres, the people persistently demand the Peace March to affirm Peace and Democracy and Justice in the country. "It is a March that, when it happens, will be peaceful, in a spirit of democracy, respecting the rights of other citizens and the law and all State institutions," he said."The planned Peace March by FRETILIN, its allies and communities, will be done to take this country in a better direction, not as our history shows, especially in 2006, to mobilize people to take this country in a worse direction."We ask all relevant State institutions to assure that those participating in a lawful Peace March will be able to so exercise their rights and freedoms without threats of incarceration, and especially call on the police to protect them as they do so," Guterres insisted."We ask the State, especially the government, not to politicise the police against the people who wish to march in the planned March of Peace, because we also heard last Saturday the de facto Prime Minister in Ainaro say that 'I have told the police that I will not permit any small group to lie to the people'. FRETILIN is not a small group of people, but whether the group is large or small, we all have a right to lawfully carry on our political activities," said Guterres.He argued that the people feel the need to reaffirm a democratic state under the rule of law because in just one year the country had fallen more and more towards a dictatorship, with increasing breaches of human rights.Guterres noted the arrest and beating of journalists, and the arrest without warrant of Opposition MPs, during the state of siege following the shootings on February 11 this year, and the recent repression of student protests about the state budget and the purchase of luxury 4WD Prados for MPs. So far there has been no substantive response to the reports on these violations by the Ombudsman for Human Rights and Justice."So these are not just threats from our recent experience," noted Guterres.Guterres urged national leaders not to threaten the people with jail, and not to use words like 'cannons', 'armored tanks', or 'battalions', which the Prime Minister used in his Ainaro speech. "It is better if you all start to speak of the constitution, peace, democracy, tolerance, freedom, justice, the rule of law and the rights our people have to live in peace and express their political views free from fear or threats," Guterres said.Guterres also asked people not to be affected by the threats against their rights. "When all of us walk this lawful path of peace and democracy, there will be no jail big enough to incarcerate us all," he concluded defiantly.

For information contact:

José Teixeira MP +670 728 7080

Nilva Guimarães (media officer) +670 734 0389

FRETILIN sublinha não alterar planos da Marcha da Paz

Em Díli nos próximos mesesA FRETILIN "não muda uma vírgula" no plano de realizar a Marcha da Paz em Díli nos próximos meses, segundo afirmou, ontem, o presidente do maior partido da oposição, Francisco Guterres "Lu Olo".O líder da FRETILIN respondeu, em conferência de imprensa, a declarações do primeiro-ministro, Xanana Gusmão, num discurso em Ainaro, a 28 de Setembro."Lu Olo" acusou Xanana de ter dito à população que "tinha ouvido que se preparava a Marcha da Paz" para Díli, mas que "não valia a pena" as pessoas descerem à capital."O primeiro-ministro disse que estaria à espera de quem se manifestasse e que os meteria a todos na cadeia", acusou o líder da FRETILIN. Agência Lusa