He played a prominent role in resolving regional conflicts during and after the Cold War as President of Finland, a United Nations (UN) special envoy for Kosovo, Namibia, and other nations, as a leader in the Aceh peace process in Indonesia, a member of The Elders group of world leaders working for peace (since 2007), and through the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), an independent Finnish non-profit organization headquartered in Helsinki, which he and his spouse founded shortly after he concluded his presidential years with a goal of helping resolve violent international conflicts (founded in 2000). The Norwegian Nobel Committee particularly noted his important contributions to finding peaceful solutions to the civil war in Aceh, Indonesia after decades of violence.