Mixed Reactions for Johnson-Sirleaf’s Nobel Peace Prize

Photo Credit: Robert Corey-Boulet/1PS

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, alongside fellow Liberian Peace activist Leyman Gbowee of the Women in PeaceBuilding Network (WIPNET) and Tawukkul Karman of Yemen (who heads human rights group Women Journalists Without Chains) for their work on women's right. But it seems that the correspondence of the award with the national campaigns period in Liberia has triggered mixed reactions from Liberians.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, in announcing the award on Friday, October 7, however,faced questions from journalists being that the timing of the award to Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf was so close to the election date. The committee members defended their decision, insisting that they always completely ignore all domestic political considerations when they decide the winners, and explaining that they could not postpone the announcement even by a few days.

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize 2011 today, waves to supporters on October 7, 2011 at her house in Monrovia. Liberia, which holds its second election on October 11 since the end of successive civil wars between 1989 and 2003, has been ruled since 2006 by Sirleaf, Africa's first elected woman president. (ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP/Getty Images)

But in Monrovia, the focus Friday was squarely on Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state who is running for a second term in a vote scheduled for Oct. 11. The prize was awarded on the same day that supporters of the Congress for Democratic Change (CDC), the leading opposition party, marched in support of political change. Contrary to the statements of the Nobel committee that Johnson-Sirleaf "contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women."; the CDC claims that the 72 year old Liberian leader, has been responsible for bringing war to the country citing her early financial support of former President Charles Taylor, now on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity at The Hague. To read more, click here.