In Sweden, former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Wednesday for a long career of peace mediation work. In his acceptance speech, Ahtisaari urged the US to focus on resolving the Middle East conflict and said the international community should reject excuses that peace is out of reach.

Martti Ahtisaari: “I do hope that the new president of the United States, who will be sworn in next month, will give high priority to the Middle East conflict during his first year in the office. The European Union, Russian Federation and the UN must also be seriously committed so that a solution can be found to the crisis stretching from Israel and Palestine to Iraq and Iran. If we want to achieve lasting results, we must look at the whole region.”

Ahtisaari’s diplomatic achievements include helping secure an accord between Indonesia and Aceh rebels in 2005. In 1990, he played a key role in securing Namibia’s independence from South Africa. Until March 2007, he mediated Serb-Albanian talks on Kosovo as the UN’s special envoy.