Martti Ahtisaari in serious condition from COVID-19

Former Finland's president, Nobel Peace Prize winner and often described as the architect of Kosovo independence, Martti Ahtisaari, has been hospitalised since he has been sick with coronary for the second time.

Former international conflict mediator, 84-year-old Ahtisaari was infected, for the first time in March 2020.

His foundation announced his hospitalisation, but says the situation seems stable at the moment.

Ahtisaari was the special envoy of the United Nations Organisation for Kosovo, tasked with organising negotiations on the Kosovo status process, on which Kosovo's plan on February 17th 2008 declared independence.

Finland's president from 1994 to 2000, Ahtisaari was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in just 2008 for his contribution to the end of the conflicts in Indonesia, Namibia, or Northern Ireland.

He withdrew from public and political life in September after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.

The document, drafted by him, known and both the Ahtisaari package, was the one who put the Kosovo state's provisions on general lines.

That plan was the result of Kosovo's long efforts to reach a settlement of its final status. /tch