Johnson Sirlf, Gbowee, Karman win Nobel Pce

OSLO, Norway (AP) — The 2011 Nobel Pce Prize was awarded Friday to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirlf, Liberian pce activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen for their work on women's rights.The Norwegian Nobel Committee ed the three women "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in pce-building work."FILE - In this July 21, 1997 file photo, Liberian presidential candidate Ellen Johnson-Sirlf spks to her supporters asking them to keep faith and solidarity while the vote counting from Sunday's presidential election continues, Monrovia, Liberia. Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirlf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen have won the 2011 Nobel Pce Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Friday, Oct. 7, 2011. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder, File)
"I am very very happy about this prize," said Karman, a 32-yr-old mother of three who hds the human rights group Women Journalists without Chains. She has been a lding figure in organizing protests President Ali Abdullah Saleh that kicked off in late January as part of a wave of anti-authoritarian revolts that have convulsed the Arab world."I give the prize to the youth of revolution in Yemen and the Yemeni people," Karman told The Associated Press.Johnson Sirlf, 72, is a Harvard-trained economist who became Africa's first democratically elected female president in 2005.She faces a presidential poll this month.She was seen as a reformer and pcemaker in Liberia when she took . But recently, opponents in the presidential campaign have accused her of buying votes and using government funds to campaign. Her camp denies the charges.Liberia was ravaged by civil wars for yrs until 2003. The country is still struggling to maintain a fragile pce with the help of U.N. pcekeepers.Liberian pce activist Leymah Gbowee, organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia's warlords. In 2009 she won a Profile in Courage Award, an named for a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book written by John F. Kennedy, for her work in emboldening women in Liberia.Karman's father is a former legal affairs minister under Saleh. She is a journalist and member of Islah party, an Islamic party."We cannot achieve democracy and lasting pce in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," the prize committee said.
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