Oslo, Norway (AP) - Africa's first democratically elected president of the women, a Liberian activist against rape and a woman who stood up to the autocratic regime of Yemen, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in recognition of the importance of women's rights in the spread of world peace.
The 10 million kronor (1.5 million) prize was split three ways between the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Women's rights activist Leymah Gbowee the same African countries and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman in Yemen - the first woman Arabic to win the award.
Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told the Associated Press that the price of Karman should be considered as a signal that the two women and Islam have important roles to play in the rebel known as the Arab spring, the wave anti-authoritarian rebellion has challenged leaders throughout the Arab world.
"The Arab Spring can not succeed without the involvement of women in", said Jagland.
He said Karman, 32, belongs to a movement with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group "that the West is perceived as a threat to democracy." He added: "I do not think so. There are many indications that such movement can be an important part of the solution."
Yemen is a very conservative society, but is a characteristic of the rebellion has had a significant role in women who turned out to protest in large numbers. Uprising, however, was one of the least successful, not to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh as the country goes down a failed state status and armed groups to take a stronger role. Riots in Libya and Syria, women have been largely absent. And when it was a lot of women protesters in the Egyptian revolution, had a few key leadership positions.
Karma is a mother of three main groups of human rights of women journalists without chains. It 'been a leading figure in organizing protests against Saleh, which began in late January.
"I am very pleased with this award," Karma told the Associated Press. "I will give a prize for young people and the revolution in Yemen, the Yemeni people."
Referring to the Arab spring alone would have been problematic for the committee. Libya in the civil war that led to military intervention by NATO. Egypt and Tunisia is still in turmoil. Hawks are now in power in Yemen and Syria and Saudi-led forces crushed the uprising in Bahrain, leaving an uncertain issue for the Arab protests.
Jagland told AP it was difficult to find a leader of the rebellion of the Arab spring, especially among the many bloggers who have played a role in the activation of protests, and noted that work began before Karman revolt Arabic.
"It was not easy for us to say to choose one of Egypt or Tunisia to pick one, because there was so much," he said. "We do not want to say that one was more important than others."
Karman "activism began long before the revolution took place in Tunisia and Egypt. It was a very courageous woman in Yemen for a long time," said Jagland.
No woman had won since 2004, when the honorary committee of Wangari Maathai of Kenya, who died last month aged 71. 2004 was also the last year the award went to an African.
Liberia has been ravaged by civil wars for years, until 2003. The term conflict that began in 1989 left some 200,000 dead and displaced half the country's population of 3 million euros. The country - created to settle freed American slaves in 1847 - is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of the peacekeepers of the UN.
Sirleaf, 72, has a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University and has held regional employment of the World Bank, the UN and within the Liberian government.
Elections in 1997, during the second warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, who has been voted many claim to power, an electorate scared. Although he lost in a landslide, has risen to national prominence and earned the nickname "Iron Lady". He went on to become the Africa's first democratically elected female leader in 2005.
Sirleaf was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia, where he assumed office. She is running for re-election this month and the opposition in the presidential campaign has been accused of vote buying and use of public funds for campaigning. His camp denies the charges. The election is Tuesday.
"It gives me a greater willingness to work for reconciliation," Sirleaf said Friday at his home in Monrovia. "Africans should be proud of Liberia."
The buttons on his presidential campaign says it all: "Ellen - she's our man."
Jagland said that the committee does not consider the forthcoming elections in Liberia, as he made his decision.
"We can not conclude that the domestic counterparts," he said. "We must look to the will of Alfred Nobel, the prize should go to someone who has done more for world peace."
African and international lighting satisfied with the news. Many were gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday to celebrate 80 anniversary of the Nobel Prize Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
"Who? Johnson Sirleaf? Liberian President? Oooh, "said Desmond Tutu, who won the peace prize in 1984 for his nonviolent campaign against the white racist regime in South Africa." She deserves more than once. It has brought stability to a place that was to hell. "
U2 leader Bono - who has figured in the speculation of the Peace Prize in previous years - called "extraordinary woman, a force of nature and has now recognized the world in this big, big way, great." Sirlaf a
Gbowee who organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge the Liberian warlords, was honored for the mobilization of women "through ethnic and religious lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women's participation in elections. "
Gbowee has long campaigned for the rights of women against rape. In 2003, led hundreds of women protesters through Monrovia to demand rapid disarmament of the fighters who attacked women throughout Liberia for 14 years of almost continuous civil war.
Gbowee working in the capital of Ghana as Director of Women for Peace and Security Network Africa. The group's website says she is a mother of five.
"I know Leymah be a brave warrior to go where others dare not," said Assistant Gbowee, Bertha Amanor. "So it is just and right, and a very nice person."
Karman is Taiz, a city in southern Yemen, a hotbed of resistance against the regime of Saleh and now lives in the capital, Sanaa. She is a journalist and member of Islah, an Islamic party. His father is a former Legal Affairs Minister Saleh.
Long defends human rights and freedom of expression in Yemen, has campaigned for the ouster of Saleh in 2006 and installed the Yemeni initiative to organize groups of young people and the opposition as part of the National Council.
Karma was arrested Jan. 23 at home. When a general protest against his detention - is rare, women in Yemen to be in prison - was released the next day.
Karman was the nickname of "Iron Lady," Mother of the Revolution "and" The spirit of the Yemeni revolution "by fellow protesters.
At a rally in Sanaa in February, told the AP: "We will preserve the dignity and rights by the fall of the regime."
Prize for Peace said that the Norwegian development aid strategy, which is often focused on women's rights. The Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the award "a file. Important and valuable"
In his 1895 will be presented the award creator Alfred Nobel, as vague guidelines for peace, says he should honor the "work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. "
The Peace Prize is the only shared the Nobel Prize in Oslo, Norway. The other five prizes - medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics - presented in Stockholm.
Peace Prize last year went to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Krista Larson, Johannesburg, Robert Reid and Sarah El-Deeb in Cairo, withholding Jonathan Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia and helped Ahmed Al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen.
The 10 million kronor (1.5 million) prize was split three ways between the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Women's rights activist Leymah Gbowee the same African countries and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman in Yemen - the first woman Arabic to win the award.
Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee told the Associated Press that the price of Karman should be considered as a signal that the two women and Islam have important roles to play in the rebel known as the Arab spring, the wave anti-authoritarian rebellion has challenged leaders throughout the Arab world.
"The Arab Spring can not succeed without the involvement of women in", said Jagland.
He said Karman, 32, belongs to a movement with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group "that the West is perceived as a threat to democracy." He added: "I do not think so. There are many indications that such movement can be an important part of the solution."
Yemen is a very conservative society, but is a characteristic of the rebellion has had a significant role in women who turned out to protest in large numbers. Uprising, however, was one of the least successful, not to overthrow President Ali Abdullah Saleh as the country goes down a failed state status and armed groups to take a stronger role. Riots in Libya and Syria, women have been largely absent. And when it was a lot of women protesters in the Egyptian revolution, had a few key leadership positions.
Karma is a mother of three main groups of human rights of women journalists without chains. It 'been a leading figure in organizing protests against Saleh, which began in late January.
"I am very pleased with this award," Karma told the Associated Press. "I will give a prize for young people and the revolution in Yemen, the Yemeni people."
Referring to the Arab spring alone would have been problematic for the committee. Libya in the civil war that led to military intervention by NATO. Egypt and Tunisia is still in turmoil. Hawks are now in power in Yemen and Syria and Saudi-led forces crushed the uprising in Bahrain, leaving an uncertain issue for the Arab protests.
Jagland told AP it was difficult to find a leader of the rebellion of the Arab spring, especially among the many bloggers who have played a role in the activation of protests, and noted that work began before Karman revolt Arabic.
"It was not easy for us to say to choose one of Egypt or Tunisia to pick one, because there was so much," he said. "We do not want to say that one was more important than others."
Karman "activism began long before the revolution took place in Tunisia and Egypt. It was a very courageous woman in Yemen for a long time," said Jagland.
No woman had won since 2004, when the honorary committee of Wangari Maathai of Kenya, who died last month aged 71. 2004 was also the last year the award went to an African.
Liberia has been ravaged by civil wars for years, until 2003. The term conflict that began in 1989 left some 200,000 dead and displaced half the country's population of 3 million euros. The country - created to settle freed American slaves in 1847 - is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of the peacekeepers of the UN.
Sirleaf, 72, has a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University and has held regional employment of the World Bank, the UN and within the Liberian government.
Elections in 1997, during the second warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor, who has been voted many claim to power, an electorate scared. Although he lost in a landslide, has risen to national prominence and earned the nickname "Iron Lady". He went on to become the Africa's first democratically elected female leader in 2005.
Sirleaf was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia, where he assumed office. She is running for re-election this month and the opposition in the presidential campaign has been accused of vote buying and use of public funds for campaigning. His camp denies the charges. The election is Tuesday.
"It gives me a greater willingness to work for reconciliation," Sirleaf said Friday at his home in Monrovia. "Africans should be proud of Liberia."
The buttons on his presidential campaign says it all: "Ellen - she's our man."
Jagland said that the committee does not consider the forthcoming elections in Liberia, as he made his decision.
"We can not conclude that the domestic counterparts," he said. "We must look to the will of Alfred Nobel, the prize should go to someone who has done more for world peace."
African and international lighting satisfied with the news. Many were gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday to celebrate 80 anniversary of the Nobel Prize Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
"Who? Johnson Sirleaf? Liberian President? Oooh, "said Desmond Tutu, who won the peace prize in 1984 for his nonviolent campaign against the white racist regime in South Africa." She deserves more than once. It has brought stability to a place that was to hell. "
U2 leader Bono - who has figured in the speculation of the Peace Prize in previous years - called "extraordinary woman, a force of nature and has now recognized the world in this big, big way, great." Sirlaf a
Gbowee who organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge the Liberian warlords, was honored for the mobilization of women "through ethnic and religious lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women's participation in elections. "
Gbowee has long campaigned for the rights of women against rape. In 2003, led hundreds of women protesters through Monrovia to demand rapid disarmament of the fighters who attacked women throughout Liberia for 14 years of almost continuous civil war.
Gbowee working in the capital of Ghana as Director of Women for Peace and Security Network Africa. The group's website says she is a mother of five.
"I know Leymah be a brave warrior to go where others dare not," said Assistant Gbowee, Bertha Amanor. "So it is just and right, and a very nice person."
Karman is Taiz, a city in southern Yemen, a hotbed of resistance against the regime of Saleh and now lives in the capital, Sanaa. She is a journalist and member of Islah, an Islamic party. His father is a former Legal Affairs Minister Saleh.
Long defends human rights and freedom of expression in Yemen, has campaigned for the ouster of Saleh in 2006 and installed the Yemeni initiative to organize groups of young people and the opposition as part of the National Council.
Karma was arrested Jan. 23 at home. When a general protest against his detention - is rare, women in Yemen to be in prison - was released the next day.
Karman was the nickname of "Iron Lady," Mother of the Revolution "and" The spirit of the Yemeni revolution "by fellow protesters.
At a rally in Sanaa in February, told the AP: "We will preserve the dignity and rights by the fall of the regime."
Prize for Peace said that the Norwegian development aid strategy, which is often focused on women's rights. The Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg called the award "a file. Important and valuable"
In his 1895 will be presented the award creator Alfred Nobel, as vague guidelines for peace, says he should honor the "work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses. "
The Peace Prize is the only shared the Nobel Prize in Oslo, Norway. The other five prizes - medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics - presented in Stockholm.
Peace Prize last year went to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.
Krista Larson, Johannesburg, Robert Reid and Sarah El-Deeb in Cairo, withholding Jonathan Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia and helped Ahmed Al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen.