Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman share Nobel Peace Prize
Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and her compatriot Leymah Gbowee, who mobilized fellow women against their country's civil war, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, along with Yemeni women's rights and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman.
(AP) -- The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen for their work on women's rights.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the three women "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."
Johnson Sirleaf, 72, is a Harvard-trained economist who became Africa's first democratically elected female president in 2005.
She faces a presidential poll this month.