Dr Christine Cheng on Ellen John Sirleaf, controversial winner of the Nobel Peace Prize

In it, Christine says, Widely admired and celebrated abroad, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has an international profile that is the envy of many a public figure. Awarding her the Nobel Peace Prize has only cemented her celebrity status on the political circuit. Yet unlike her fellow co-winners Leymah Gbowee (also of Liberia) and Tawakkul Karman (Yemen), Ma Ellen has a past linking her to a violent rebel movement, and since 2006 she has led an administration plagued by corruption. Even though she has been received with adulation overseas since she was first elected, she has always gotten a much tougher reception at home. These contrasts will be brought into sharp relief on Tuesday as Liberians return to the polls for national elections and Sirleaf fights for her political life.

The full article can be read on RealClearWorld, on Christines blog and on Al Jazeera online.

An interview with Christine on BBC1 news (7 October) can also be seen here.

(Photograph by Benjamin Zurbriggen, copyright World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org))