Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female president of Africa and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, rose to prominence on the global political, activist, and economic scene. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf returned to Liberia in 2003 after more than ten years away due to the civil war, where she led efforts to hold free elections.
She ran for president in 2005, promising to eradicate corruption, foster cohesion, and restore Liberia’s severely damaged infrastructure. With debilitating rates of unemployment as a result of the civil war, Liberia had become one of the world’s poorest countries. As soon she took office, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf lobbied the international community for trade sanctions to be lifted and debt relief. The whole debt owed by Liberia had been paid off by late 2010. Together with securing funds for a new national institution, President Sirleaf established the right to free, universal primary education. President Sirleaf left office in 2017 after serving two consecutive terms. The result was that in January 2018, the nation experienced its first peaceful, democratic transfer of power in 73 years. A month later, she received the coveted Ibrahim Award for Excellence in African Leadership, which is given to African leaders who were democratically elected and who resign from office at the conclusion of their legally prescribed years in office.
Summary article by: iSAW Team
Original Article Title: ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Member of The Elders
