Liberia: President Sirleaf Outlines Role of Angie Brooks Center

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has described as symbolic the launch of the Angie Brooks International Center. The launch of the Center the President said represents an honor for women in leadership worldwide. The Liberian President also described the event as recognition of women who can grow up believing that they, too, can be successful like Angle Brooks.

According to an Executive Mansion press release, President Johnson Sirleaf was speaking early last week in Fendell, outside Monrovia, at the launch of the Angie Brooks International Center on Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security.

The Center, the President said, represents the mechanism through which the goals and outcomes of the recently concluded Women's Colloquium will be implemented. She described it as a magnet that will draw women from every part of the globe, including women world leaders who will meet and engage in training and research that will promote and enhance women's leadership development. The Center, the President said will also serve as an international repository for documentation on women's issues and accomplishments, partnership, networking and advocacy on women's leadership.

The Liberian President described the Center as intensity for peace, security and gender equity. She called for the establishment of the Chief Suacoco International Center for Peace.

The President described Chief Suacoco, the first female traditional chief in Liberia, as an inspiration to the late Angie Brooks.

The Angie Brooks International Center will focus on women's political, economic, and legal empowerment; women's leadership, international peace and security; research and documentation, when it becomes fully operational.

The Project is being supported by the African Women's Development Fund, the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Madam Mary Robinson, among others.

It is envisioned that the Center will eventually qualify and become part of a worldwide network of the United Nations University (UNU) system, of which there are 13 such Research and Training Centers and Programs