The award was given in Oslo

To three women, the president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and activists Leima Gbowi, also from Liberia, and Tawakul Karman, from Yemen, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded yesterday, at a special ceremony in Oslo.

The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, awarded the top prize to the three ladies "for their non-violent struggle for women's safety and for women's rights to participate fully in peace-building efforts".

Liberia's president says she is honored to follow in the footsteps of Africans who have won the award before her, such as Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan, and expressed her sorrow for the people of Norway, where 77 people died in 22 July from Anders Breivik's murderous rampage.