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December 12, 2011

Nobel Prize Historically Awarded to Three Women 
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This year's Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three women on Saturday
— Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, women's rights
activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni campaigner Tawakul Karman. Opening the
ceremony, the head of the Nobel selection committee Thorbjorn Jagland
issued a note of warning to oppressive leaders in the Middle East.

Thorbjorn Jagland, Nobel Committee Chairman: "The leaders in Yemen and
in Syria who murder their people to retain their own power should take
note of the following: mankind's quest for freedom and human rights will
never stop."

The first to accept the peace prize was Liberian President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf, the first woman who was freely elected as a head of
state in Africa.

Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf: "I am particularly honored to
be a successor to the several sons and one daughter of Africa who have
stood on this stage — Chief Albert John Lutuli, Arch Bishop
Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and F.W. D Klerk, Kofi Annan, Anwar Sadat,
Wangari Maathai, Mohammed El Baradei as well as as Barack Obama, Martin
Luther King, Jr. and Ralph Bunche — Americans of African descent."



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