Kenyas fremmeste forkæmper for miljøet, for kvinders rettigheder og for et åbent, demokratisk styre, grundlæggeren af Green Belt Movement og modtager af Nobels Fredspris – som den første afrikanske kvinde – blev 71 år.
Wangari Maathai has died in Nairobi while undergoing cancer treatment, writes BBC online Monday.
She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for promoting conservation, women’s rights and transparent government – the first African woman to get the award.
She was elected as an MP in 2002 and served as a minister in the Kenyan government for a time.
Ms Maathai, in 1977, founded the Green Belt Movement, which has planted 20-30 million trees in Africa.
‘Role model and heroine’
“Professor Maathai’s departure is untimely and a very great loss to all who knew her – as a mother, relative, co-worker, colleague, role model, and heroine; or who admired her determination to make the world a more peaceful, healthier, and better place.” the Green Belt Movement said in a statement.
Arrested and tear-gassed
Ms Maathai, who was a professor of veterinary anatomy, rose to international fame for campaigns against government-backed forest clearances in Kenya in the late 1980s-90s.
Under the former government of President Daniel Arap Moi, she was arrested several times, and vilified.
In 2008, Ms Maathai was tear-gassed during a protest against the Kenyan president’s plan to increase the number of ministers in the cabinet.
In her speech accepting the Nobel prize, Ms Maathai said she hoped her own success would spur other women on to a more active role in the community.
“I hope it will encourage them to raise their voices and take more space for leadership,” she said.
Se en stribe kendte citater af Maathai på
http://afripopmag.com/culture/wangari-maathai-quotes-passes-at-71
Hun gæstede København i juli i år – se telegrammet
http://www.u-landsnyt.dk/kalender-indhold/debat-med-kenyansk-nobelprismodtager-sammenhaengen
