“African Lysistrata” – the Woman Who Stopped the War

The article is devoted to the most difficult period in the history of Liberia – the time of the First and Second Civil Wars (1989–1997 and 1999–2003) and the post-war development of the country. Various non-governmental organizations (NGOs), including women’s associations operating in urban and rural areas and gaining credibility both at home and abroad, have played and still play a huge role in the fight against armed conflicts, aggression, oppression and discrimination. The effectiveness and efficiency of such NGOs largely depend on those activists and peacekeepers, i.e. the leaders, who create and lead them. They strive for positive changes in society with their progressive ideas and energy. Such personalities include Leyma Robert Gbowee, whose life and fate are discussed in this article. This outstanding African woman, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, a public activist who devoted herself to fighting violence, for peace and human rights, directed her energy to organizing a mass women’s movement in Liberia, whose nonviolent methods of protest stopped the Civil War in the country in 2003. She managed to unite Christian and Muslim women, residents of urban neighborhoods and rural women, awaken them to active political activity and join in building a just state in Liberia.

Leymah Gbowee, Civil War in Liberia, Liberia in the XXI century, activities of women’s nongovernmental organizations, peacekeeping in Africa