African Women Who Fought for Peace & Reconciliation
3 women in the archive worked for peace & reconciliation. They came from different countries and different centuries, but each of them saw a wrong that others accepted and set out to change it. Read their stories to see how the same cause looked from very different lives.
3 women in the archive
ContemporaryDerartu Tulu
Ethiopian long-distance runner who became the first Black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal, at Barcelona 1992. Her victory lap with white South African Elana Meyer became a symbol of post-apartheid reconciliation.
ContemporaryJulienne Lusenge
Congolese human rights activist who has spent decades fighting sexual violence as a weapon of war in the DRC, founding organisations that provide legal aid, counselling, and economic support to survivors.
ContemporarySylvie Kinigi
Economist who became Burundi's first female Prime Minister in 1993, survived the coup that killed the president three months later, and as acting head of state held a shattered government together long enough to hand power back to an elected successor.