In 2005 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf defeated ex-footballer George Weah to become the first female president of which African country?
"infamous amongst early European slave raiders as being especially averse to capture. The Kru are one of the many ethnic groups in Liberia, comprising 7% of the population. It is also one of the main languages spoken. The Kru are one of the three main indigenous group players in Liberia's socio-political activities along with the Krahn and Mano people. Notable ethnic Krus include the 25th President of Liberia George Weah, who is of mixed Kru, Gbee, Mano, and Bassa heritage, as well as his predecessor, former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf , who is of mixed Kru, Gola, and German ancestry."
"In addition to helping bring an end to 14 years of warfare in Liberia, this women's movement led to the 2005 election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as president of Liberia, the first elected woman leader of a country in Africa. Sirleaf is co-recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize along with Gbowee and Tawakel Karman. The three were awarded the prize ""for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."" In Sirleaf's re-election campaign of 2011, Gbowee endorsed her. Recognizable when wearing their white WIPNET T-shirts, Gbowee and the other"
"elections officials were stuffing ballot boxes in Johnson-Sirleaf's favor. Most elections observers, including those from the United Nations, the European Union and the Economic Community of West African States, say that the election was clean and transparent. The Carter Center observed ""minor irregularities"" but no major problems. Johnson-Sirleaf reminded the press that Weah has 72 hours to bring evidence of wrongdoing to her campaign according to Liberian law, calling the accusations ""lies"" and stating that Weah's supporters ""just don't want a woman to be President in Africa."" On December 22, 2005, Weah withdrew his protests, and in January Ellen Johnson"
"many. Embet Ilen (c. 1801-1851) was a woman important in Eritrean politics.[19] Ellen Johnson SirleafEllen Johnson Sirleaf was Africa’s first woman president in Liberia. The Freedom and Right for Women in Africa to participate in Leadership and Electoral processes has differed by countries and even by ethnic groups with the same country. For example, in Nigeria, Women in Southern Nigeria had the Right to Vote as early as 1950 and contested for seats in the 1959 Nigerian Elections, whereas Women in Northern Nigeria could not vote or contest until 1976 . In Benin, enforcement of the law against rape, the"
"Johnson Sirleaf, was necessary. The second round of elections took place on November 8, 2005. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf won this runoff decisively. Both the general election and runoff were marked by peace and order, with thousands of Liberians waiting patiently in the Liberian heat to cast their ballots. Sirleaf claimed victory of this round, winning 59 per cent of the vote. However, Weah alleged electoral fraud, despite international observers declaring the election to be free and fair. Although Weah was still threatening to take his claims to the Supreme Court if no evidence of fraud was found, Johnson-Sirleaf was declared"
"political neutral, was chosen as chairman, while Sirleaf served as head of the Governance Reform Commission. Sirleaf stood for president as the candidate of the Unity Party in the 2005 general election. She placed second in the first round of voting behind footballer George Weah. In the subsequent run-off election, Sirleaf earned 59% of the vote versus 40% for Weah, though Weah disputed the results. The announcement of the new leader was postponed until further election investigations were carried out. On 23 November 2005, Sirleaf was declared the winner of the Liberian election and confirmed as the country's next president."
"anti-corruption program GEMAP, starting September 2005. The transitional government prepared for fair and peaceful democratic elections on October 11, 2005, with UNMIL troops safeguarding the peace. Twenty three candidates stood for the presidential election, with George Weah, international footballer, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Kru ethnic group, and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a former World Bank economist and finance minister, Harvard-trained economist and of mixed Americo-Liberian and indigenous descent. In the first round, no candidate took the required majority, Weah won this round with 28% of the vote. A run-off between the top two vote getters, Weah and Ellen"
"15 in the House of Representatives. Congress for Democratic Change Congress for Democratic Change (abbreviated CDC) is a Liberian political party formed by supporters of George Weah's 2005 presidential campaign. In the 11 October 2005 elections, Weah placed first in the presidential poll, winning 28.3% of the vote. He was defeated by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Unity Party in the 8 November run-off election, winning 40.6% of the vote compared to Johnson-Sirleaf's 59.4%. In the 2017 presidential election, the party was the largest component of the Coalition for Democratic Change, and won the presidency under Weah. The party won"
"Congress for Democratic Change Congress for Democratic Change (abbreviated CDC) is a Liberian political party formed by supporters of George Weah's 2005 presidential campaign. In the 11 October 2005 elections, Weah placed first in the presidential poll, winning 28.3% of the vote. He was defeated by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of the Unity Party in the 8 November run-off election, winning 40.6% of the vote compared to Johnson-Sirleaf's 59.4%. In the 2017 presidential election, the party was the largest component of the Coalition for Democratic Change, and won the presidency under Weah. The party won 3 seats in the Senate and"
"Mission in Liberia began arriving in September 2003 to provide security and monitor the peace accord, and an interim government took power the following October. The subsequent 2005 elections were internationally regarded as the most free and fair in Liberian history. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Harvard-educated economist and former Minister of Finance, was elected as the first female president in Africa. Upon her inauguration, Sirleaf requested the extradition of Taylor from Nigeria and transferred him to the SCSL for trial in The Hague. In 2006, the government established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the causes and crimes of"
"The country's president was Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. All were women and all supported the women's national team. In 2007, Izetta Wesley was named a member of the FIFA Women's Football Committee and that of FIFA Women's World Cup, with her term starting in 2008. She has also served as the Match Commissioner of CAF and FIFA, and Vice President of the West African Football Union (WAFU). In 1985, almost no country in the world had a women's national football team, including Liberia who did not play in their first FIFA recognised match until February 2007 though the team played three non-recognised"
"and two other civilians. Perry was known for being the first female president of Liberia and of contemporary Africa as a whole. Liberia also has the distinction of electing Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as the first elected female African leader in modern times. Perry was born July 16, 1939, in a rural area of Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia, the daughter of Marjon and AlHaji Semila Fahnbulleh. She was a Muslim of Vai ethnic ancestry. As a child, Perry participated in the Sande society, a traditional school and secret society for females, and attended regular classes. Her parents later enrolled her"
"removed the current leader, Charles Taylor, and with the help of the United Nations deployed a new democratic form of government that stands for equal rights and even has a women president in Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. This change in government was also apparent in Rwanda in 1993 when the genocide finally stopped. The country had shifted from dictatorship to pure democracy and gave both men and women the right to vote. The country also installed a quota system where a certain number of government seats must belong to women. The country's quota was 30% of seats, however women now hold"
"and Muslims in Liberia, specifically Monrovia. The Christian and Muslim women joined forces to create Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. They wore white, to symbolize peace. For her leadership, Leymah Gbowee has received international recognition, including the 2009 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, The president of Liberia during the duration of the Mass Action for Peace. She often promoted women's rights and promised to increase women's rights in her two campaigns for presidency. She inspired many Liberian women to push for mass movement in order to obtain"
"2005 and 2011 elections, both won by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, began a democratic environment more conducive to building a free and independent press. Sirleaf signed West Africa's first freedom of information law in 2010, granting journalists and the general public the right to access any public document with the exception of records sensitive to national security. Libel, however, remained a criminal offense and there were cases of government press intolerance between 2005 and 2011 two elections. A spike in attacks against the media in 2009 included police-led assaults and unlawful detentions. The PUL spoke out in a 2010 case"
"Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf. Intense public opinion and collateral damage from previous legislative clashes created a difficult position for President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who was away on government business when this situation developed. Mary Broh submitted her resignation to President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, effective February 28, 2013. Among a number of noteworthy statements issued in defense of Mary Broh and her impact on Monrovia, Ms. Deborah R. Malac, US Ambassador to Liberia, weighed in on what she perceived as the culmination of gender politics and an atmosphere of sexist hostility and violence towards women. On March 5, 2013, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf tapped Mary"
"there, UNMIL, also with the rank of Under Secretary General. The UN mission provided extensive security and political support for the 2005 national elections in Liberia, which resulted in the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as Africa's first female elected head of state. Following the elections Doss worked very closely with the new Administration on national recovery and reconstruction including the groundbreaking governance and economic programme, GEMAP. He worked closely with the Sierra Leone Tribunal to ensure that Charles Taylor was detained and successfully transferred by UNMIL to the Court's jurisdiction. Other country assignments through the years included Niger and"
"peace agreement in 2003 led to democratic elections in 2005, in which Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was elected President. Recovery proceeds but about 85% of the population lives below the international poverty line. Liberia's economic and political stability was threatened in the 2010s by an Ebola virus epidemic; it originated in Guinea in December 2013, entered Liberia in March 2014, and was declared officially ended on May 8, 2015. The Pepper Coast, also known as the Grain Coast, has been inhabited by indigenous peoples of Africa at least as far back as the 12th century. Mende-speaking people expanded westward from the"
"on the London School of Economics website), Williams (and her co-author Robtel Neajai Pailey) were critical of Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first elected woman head of state. They stated that in her 12 years in charge, she had achieved ""next to nothing to position women favorably to win votes"". Korto Reeves Williams Korto Reeves Williams is a Liberian feminist activist. She is the country director and women's rights coordinator of ActionAid Liberia, a board member of Urgent Action Fund (Africa), and a member of the Liberia Feminist Forum and the African Feminist Forum. Williams has a master's degree"
"Sirleaf became the first democratically elected female Head of State in the history of the African Continent, and the first native female African Head of State since Empress Zauditu, who ruled Ethiopia from 1916 to 1930 and not including Queen Elizabeth II who reigned over many Commonwealth countries upon their independence and still reigns as Queen of the United Kingdom over the Atlantic African Islands and British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha . As no Senate existed prior to the elections, each voter was eligible to cast two ballots for different candidates. The two candidates"
"spent some time in politics in Brazil. Brazilian striker Ronaldo was chosen as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme in 2000 as he had the highest global appeal among sportspeople. Former FIFA World Player of the Year and African Footballer of the Year George Weah secured most votes in the first round of the 2005 Liberian presidential election, but was defeated in the run-off ballot. He was elected President 12 years later. Another football celebrity is the English footballer David Beckham. He has been perceived as a trend-setter in England due to a history of frequent hairstyle"
"Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. Before their prizes were awarded, only 12 other women had ever been granted the award. Yemeni protesters wore pink ribbons to symbolise the ""Jasmine Revolution"" and indicate their non-violent intent. Shawki al-Qadi, a lawmaker and opposition figure, said pink was chosen to represent love and to signal that the protests would be peaceful. The preponderance of pink ribbons in the demonstrations showed the level of planning that went into the protests. According to Al Jazeera in late February, the deeply fractured opposition includes the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP; formed in 2002),"
"of the United Methodist Church. College of West Africa The College of West Africa is a Methodist high school in Monrovia, Liberia. The school was opened in 1839 (as the ""Monrovia Seminary""), making it one of the oldest European-style schools in Africa. It has produced many of Liberia's leaders and includes among its alumni Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected as president in an African state, and Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai. The College of West Africa's main building is named in memory of Melville B. Cox, a Methodist missionary from Edenton Street United Methodist Church, who"
"University. He worked at Vanguard Group of Investment Companies, a Fortune 500 Company in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where he was recruited into the highly competitive and prestigious Smart Leadership Program upon graduation. After more than a decade of working with development foundations and as a policy, financial systems analyst and project manager in Guinea and the United States, Konneh returned to Liberia to serve his country in 2006. In 2014, Konneh received the Minister of Finance of the Year for Africa, presented by The Banker Magazine. Upon the election of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2005, Mr. Konneh was named"
"Hifikepunye Pohamba, former President of Namibia, Current Chairperson of the Panel of the Wise; North Africa (Egypt) Mr. Amr Moussa, former Secretary-General of the League of Arab States; East Africa (Uganda) Dr. Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, former Vice President of Uganda; Central Africa (Gabon) Mrs. Honorine Nzet Biteghe, former Minister for Women and Family; West Africa (Liberia) Dr. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia. Southern Africa (Mozambique) Dr. Luisa Diogo, former Prime Minister of Mozambique, Current Chairperson of the Panel of the Wise; North Africa (Algeria) Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, former UN Envoy for Syria, among others; East Africa (Uganda) Dr."
"College of West Africa The College of West Africa is a Methodist high school in Monrovia, Liberia. The school was opened in 1839 (as the ""Monrovia Seminary""), making it one of the oldest European-style schools in Africa. It has produced many of Liberia's leaders and includes among its alumni Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected as president in an African state, and Liberian Vice President Joseph Boakai. The College of West Africa's main building is named in memory of Melville B. Cox, a Methodist missionary from Edenton Street United Methodist Church, who was a founder of the"
"11 October 2005. Conneh was nominated as the party's presidential candidate, but only 0.56% of the vote in the election that brought Ellen Sirleaf to power as president. Testifying before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on August 28, 2008, Conneh said that, during the war, Sierra Leone and Guinea had allowed the LURD rebels free passage ""through their borders with our arms without any questions from them"". Sekou Conneh Sekou Damate Conneh, Jr. (born 1960) is a Liberian politician and former rebel leader. Born in 1960 in the town of Gbarnga, Liberia (Bong County) to an ethnic Mandingo Muslim family,"
"on 5 April 2012. Mutharika was a politically vocal first lady. She publicly weighed in on the decision by the DPP to fire the first and second vice-president by stating that Joyce Banda (who had not publicly expressed an interest to run as President) was not qualified to run as president. She stated that Banda's supporters were tantalizing themselves by drawing parallels with Liberian first female President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Some analysts have suggested that she may bid to run for Presidency in 2014. In August 2010, late president Bingu wa Mutharika appointed her as African Union Goodwill Ambassador for"
"this ruling created the possibility that the elections would have to be postponed in order to reprint ballot papers. However, these candidates later withdrew their bids, so the elections went ahead on schedule on October 11. Voting took place in two rounds 11 October and 8 November. Twenty-two people contested the presidential race in the first round. George Weah, former soccer star and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former World Bank employee and finance minister finished first and second, respectively and advanced to the second round run-off, which Johnson-Sirleaf won 59%-41%, according to the National Electoral Commission. Weah claimed election fraud, stating"
"other opposition parties, the Congress for Democratic Change chose Weah as its 2011 vice presidential candidate, running with presidential candidate Winston Tubman. In 2014, he ran for election to the Senate as a Congress for Democratic Change candidate in Montserrado County. He was overwhelmingly elected to the Liberian Senate on 20 December 2014. Weah defeated Robert Sirleaf, the son of President Sirleaf, becoming the first Liberian international athlete elected to represent a county in the Legislature. He won a landslide victory, receiving 99,226 votes, which represented 78.0% of the total votes from the 141 polling centers, while Sirleaf, his closest"
"in Nimba County, his home base. After his loss in the first round of voting, he endorsed candidate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for the second round vote against football star George Weah. Johnson-Sirleaf went on to win the election, with Korto's support being viewed as an important factor in her victory, and she appointed Korto to her cabinet as Minister of Education shortly after she took office in January 2006. Korto has a background as a teacher and holds a doctorate in education from the Catholic University of America in Washington DC. Joseph Korto Joseph Korto is a Liberian politician and"
"delegates to be the party's vice presidential candidate. The True Whig Party endorsed the Unity Party presidential ticket on 16 June 2011. George Weah, who lost to Sirleaf in the 2005 runoff election, confirmed his intention to run for president in 2011. The third-place candidate from the 2005 elections, Liberty Party leader Charles Brumskine, also announced his plans to run for president. On 25 October 2010, the two candidates agreed following a meeting in Accra to create a coalition between the Liberty Party and Weah's Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), fielding a single list of candidates in the legislative elections."
"staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace, bringing about an agreement during the stalled peace talks. Working together, over 3,000 Christian and Muslim women mobilized their efforts, and as a result, the women were able to achieve peace in Liberia after a 14-year civil war and helped bring to power the country's first female president. The story is told in the 2008 documentary film ""Pray the Devil Back to Hell"". Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first modern elected female head of state in Africa. General: Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 when"