Nobel Peace Prize highlights role of women in peace building

The winners of the Nobel Peace Prize vowed yesterday to work even harder to make the world see women not just as victims of conflicts, but as leaders in efforts to resolve them. Speaking in Oslo before today’s prize ceremony, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, her compatriot Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen told reporters they felt the award had empowered their struggle for women's rights, democracy and peace in their home countries and beyond.

The campaign to award the Nobel Prize to African women has spurred activists throughout the region. Amany Asfour is an Egyptian entrepreneur and the president of ECOSOCC, the Economic, Social and Cultural Council of the African Union. She spoke to Sylvia Koch about the contribution of women to the peace process in her own country, and throughout Africa.

Asfour said although Africa is rich in natural resources, it remains a very poor continent. “The reason is that we don’t invest in our human resources. We should build the capacity of our people to be able to manage our own natural resources,” she said.

She expressed hope for her own country: “We are in an historical time in Egypt now. It is the first time in the history of Egypt that everyone is going to vote,” she said. “I think women have a bigger role to play in Egypt now. All of us went to the ballots of the elections, of the voting. We are hoping with this first step towards real democratic transformation that we should really achieve democracy, good governance and equality.”

Listen to the full interview of Amany Asfour with Silvia Koch: