Johnson Sirleaf, Among 2011 Nobel Peace Winners

By Staff Writer

OSLO---Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen for their work on women's rights were awarded The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The three prize winners share the 2011 award "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work," Norwegian Nobel Committee president Thorbjoern Jagland said in his announcement at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Johnson Sirleaf, 72, is Africa's first democratically elected woman president in 2005. She was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia when she took office. But recently, opponents in the presidential campaign have accused her of buying votes and using government funds to campaign. Her camp denies the charges.

Ms Sirleaf, is running for a second term and will face elections on Tuesday.

Liberia was ravaged by civil wars for years until 2003. The country is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of UN peacekeepers.

Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia's warlords. In 2009 she won a Profile in Courage Award, an honor named for a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book written by John F. Kennedy, for her work in emboldening women in Liberia.

Karman's father is a former legal affairs minister under Saleh. She is a journalist and member of Islah party, an Islamic party.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee that attributes the prize had a record 241 individuals and organisations on its top secret list.