As members know, two years ago Gabon underwent a political transition that wa...

As members know, two years ago Gabon underwent a political transition that was outstandingly led by two women, one the President of the Senate and the other the President of the Constitutional Court. When Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of the Gabonese Republic, addressed the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly, he recalled the high priority Gabon gives to the effective participation of women in mediation and conflict prevention (see A/66/PV.16). A few weeks ago, we welcomed the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to three women: Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, Ms. Leymah Gbowee, Liberian activist, and Ms. Tawakkul Karman, Yemeni activist. This year, those three women clearly embody the very issue we are discussing.