Ethiotime1
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia)
Known as the “Iron Lady,” Ellen Johnson Sirleaf served as President of Liberia from 2006 – 2018. Before assuming the presidency and claiming the title of the African continent’s first female Head of State, Ms. Sirleaf served as a finance minister during Samuel K. Doe’s rule. During this time, she was sentenced to jail for 10 years due to her vocal criticism of his regime.
She avoided execution and escaped to the US and Kenya, furthering her career as an economist, after which she ran for her second presidential bid, having lost her first bid to Charles Taylor, who was later sent into exile. She made history as the African continent’s first democratically elected female president.
Ms. Sirleaf inherited an economy that was devastated by the after-effects of civil war. Unemployment rates were high and the country faced a serious debt crisis. However, her request for debt relief helped to expunge Liberia’s debt in just five years. Foreign investments and international support increased during her term, and she was a championing voice for anti-corruption, creating Liberia’s Anti-Corruption Commission.
In 2007, Ms. Sirleaf was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, America’s highest civilian award. This was followed by her receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, awarded jointly with fellow Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Yemen’s Tawakkol Karman “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”, said the citation.
The Liberian economy flourished under Ms. Sirleaf, until 2014 when the Ebola epidemic ravaged Liberia and its neighboring countries.
In 2018, Ms. Sirleaf when her term came to an end, she was able to transfer power peacefully to her George Weah – this had not happened between political opponents in the country since 1944.
In her final speech during the 2013 UN General Assembly, Ms. Sirleaf stated that 11 years prior, she was asked to speak as the first woman to be democratically elected as Head of State in Africa and requested for this trend to continue, stating, “the next generation must belong to women.”
She noted that a peaceful transfer of power was anticipated in Liberia’s then-upcoming presidential elections and explained that democracy was the way forward in Liberia, as well as the entire African continent.
She elaborated upon the immense progress made after the devasting civil war, citing that Liberia had remained peaceful and stable, and talked about progress made in rehabilitating the country’s infrastructure and provision of electricity, water and technology.
She said Liberia’s transformation had empowered citizens, especially women in, “giving women, including market and rural women, a voice and the right to be heard.” In addition, international trade, as well as improving the health care system and encouraging youth entrepreneurship were all prioritized.
“We could not have accomplished all of that without the UN — its political leadership, the generosity of its economic development support, humanitarian contributions and, most important, the stabilization and security provided to our country through the United Nations Mission in Liberia,” she concluded.
“I applaud you, Mr. President (of the UN General Assembly), and your predecessors, the Member States and UN civil servants around the world who have sacrificed in order for us to see the very first generation of school-age children growing up in an environment of peace, free of the violence of civil conflict.”
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