FORGOT ONE:

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Three Activist Women (ALAN COWELL, LAURA KASINOF and ADAM NOSSITER, 10/07/11, NY Times)

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 was awarded on Friday to three women from Africa and the Arab world in acknowledgment of their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality. The winners were President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia -- the first woman to be elected president in modern Africa -- her compatriot, the peace activist Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen, a pro-democracy campaigner.

They were the first women to win the prize since Wangari Maathai of Kenya, who died last month, was named as the laureate in 2004.

Most of the recipients in the award's 110-year history have been men, and Friday's decision seemed designed to give impetus to the fight for women's rights around the world.

Worthy enough causes, but, obviously, no one has done more for women's rights and democracy, in general, and Liberia, in particular, than George W. Bush, Farewell President George W. Bush: Liberians Will Remember You (Kai G. Wleh, 1/19/09, Liberian Journal)

Under the administration of President George W. Bush the U.S. policy towards Liberia dramatically changed. As the new rounds of civil war loom the Liberian capital Monrovia in 2003, President Bush warned Charles Taylor to step down for the sake of peace and commissioned 2,300 U.S. Marines off the Liberian coast.

Rebel-leader-turned President, Charles Taylor, who won the presidential election in 1997 merely because voters war wearied voters feared that had he lost the elections, the NPFL would have returned to war, and plunge the country into a lawless state while propelling a civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone.

After issuing defiant statements in reaction to U.S. government's demand for him to quit, President Charles Taylor, in the midst of rapidly advancing rebels on the capital, the brutal dictator astoundingly submitted to President Bush's warning in an address. He resigned the presidency and moved into exile.

In Washington Deputy State Department spokesman, Philip Reeker told reporters that Taylor's resignation was ''essential to restoring peace in Liberia.''

The 2003 resignation allowed the tyrant to enjoy asylum in Nigeria. But President Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would later pursue the autocratic leader to face war crime charges on crimes against humanity - not for crimes Taylor allegedly committed in Liberia but in neighboring Sierra Leone. Under extreme pressure from Washington and London, a once reluctant President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, requested Nigeria to surrender Taylor for trial at the international criminal tribunal in Sierra Leone.

After volleys of political plays, Nigeria heeded Washington and President Bush expressed appreciation to the government of Nigeria for helping to apprehend Charles Taylor.

"The fact that Charles Taylor will be brought to justice in a court of law will help Liberia and is a signal, Mr. President, of your deep desire for there to be peace in your neighborhood," media quoted President Bush as telling then Nigerian leader Olesegun Obasanjo in a White House meeting.

Following the apprehension of Mr. Charles, who is now facing war crime charges in The Hague, President Bush began constructively engage Liberia's reconstruction efforts under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. During a state visit to Liberia, President Bush was quoted as saying: "I want the people of Liberia to know, Madam President, the United States stands with you. We want to help you recover from a terrible period. We want you to build lives of hope and peace."

Furthermore, an official of the Bush administration reportedly told the U.S. Congress of plans to continue to support Liberia, to shore up its fledgling democracy beyond the $1 billion the Bush administration has already given to the West African nation over the past two years.

Posted by oj at October 7, 2011 3:43 PM
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