Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Who is Ellen Johnson Sirleaf?

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is the 24th and current President of Liberia. She served as Minister of Finance under President William Tolbert from 1979 until the 1980 coup d'état, after which she left Liberia and held senior positions at various financial institutions. She placed a distant second in the 1997 presidential election. Later, she was elected President in the 2005 presidential election and took office on 16 January 2006.

A peace movement called Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace led to her election, making Liberia the first African nation with a female president. The story is told in the 2008 documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Sirleaf is the first modern, and currently the only elected, female head of state in Africa.