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                   | Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf sworn in as President of Liberia, the first woman elected President in Africa - January 16, 2006 - On Monday, January 16, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was sworn in as President of Liberia, the first woman elected President of an African country. Although two other women are Prime Ministers in Africa: Luísa Dias Diogo of Mozambique and Maria do Carmo Silveira of Sao Tome and Principe (a small island country), both were appointed to their current positions. First lady Laura Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were in attendance for the ceremony. Johnson-Sirleaf has a public service career spanning 35 years and a Masters degree in public administration from Harvard. In the late 1970s, she served as Liberia's finance minister, and later worked as a vice president for Citibank and Equator Bank. She lead the Africa Bureau at the United Nations Development Fund and served on numerous private boards and international commissions. She chaired Liberia's Governance Reform Commission established under the 2003 peace agreement that ended the civil war.
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© 2009 - Equal Representation
| Equal Representation –The Essence of Democracy Updated 2009-02-14 |