Stockholm - Martti Ahtisaari, Finland's former president and winner of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize, on Saturday said he was "ashamed" over the lack of progress in efforts to solve the Middle East conflict.

"I am ashamed, I must admit that," Ahtisaari said in an interview broadcast by Swedish radio. "How can we, year after year, say that we are really trying to find a solution, when we are not?"

Ahtisaari, 71, said he hoped for progress during the final months of the current US administration and that the next US president "will use his first year (in office) to find a permanent solution in the Middle East."

The veteran mediator said that "from his point of view" it did not matter if Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain wins the US elections in regard to the Middle East conflict, since "the task is there, and must be focused on."

Ahtisaari said "lack of political will" was the main reason for the lack of progress in the efforts to reach a solution. "We have to ensure that our political leaders, on both sides of the Atlantic, act," he said.

Ahtisaari said there was need for a Palestinian state and security guarantees for Israel.

The international community, he said, should "support" efforts by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is now the official envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East, a group including the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia.
He also questioned the boycott of the radical Palestinian Islamic Hamas movement after its victory in January 2006 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

"We encourage people to hold elections, and it is then conducted relatively free and democratic, we say 'sorry, the wrong people won,'" Ahtisaari said.

On Afghanistan, the former Finnish president said "the problem will not be solved with more troops," adding that "perhaps we must talk to the Taliban."

Kosovo was an example of "preventive diplomacy" and also helped send a message to all dictators who treat their citizens badly "they will end up on trial," Ahtisaari said, referring to the fate of the late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Ahtisaari is to accept the Nobel prize in Oslo on December 10. He was cited by the Norwegian Nobel Committee for his mediation efforts in countries including Northern Ireland, Kosovo and Indonesia and his role in negotiations for Namibia's independence from apartheid South Africa.