Ellen Johnson Sirleaf turns 88 in Liberia
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on The Analyst (Liberia)
Former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf turns 88, after a career shaped by the 1980 coup, exile, war, the presidency and the Nobel Peace Prize. Her life remains closely linked to Liberia's upheavals, The Analyst reports.
Former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf turns 88 on Thursday 29 October 2026. Born in Monrovia on 29 October 1938, she lived through the 1980 coup, two periods of imprisonment, exile and civil wars before becoming president of Liberia, The Analyst reports.
She studied accounting and economics in the United States, then obtained a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University in 1971. Finance minister under President William R. Tolbert in 1979, she later headed the Liberian Bank for Development and Investment before leaving the country after criticising Samuel Doe's military regime.
Elected president in 2005, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf helped secure the cancellation of Liberia's debt and shared the Nobel Peace Prize. Her term was marked by the 2014 Ebola epidemic and ended with a peaceful transfer of power, despite her exclusion from the Unity Party when her successor was chosen.
