Etweda Ambavi Gbenyon Cooper, known as Sugars, is a Liberian politician and peace activist. She has been described as "the doyenne" and "the godmother" of the Liberian women's movement. In 2010, she was elected mayor of

Edina, Liberia Edina is a city in District 1, Grand Bassa County, District 1 of Grand Bassa County, Liberia. Located on the central portion of the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic Coast of Liberia on the north shore of the mouth of the Saint John River (Liberia), St. ...

. She then served as superintendent of

Grand Bassa County Grand Bassa is a county in the west-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has eight districts. Buchanan serves as the capital with th ...

from 2012 to 2015.

Early life and education

Etweda Cooper was born in Edina, into an elite family descended from freed slaves who left the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

in the 1800s. She grew up speaking Bassa and

Liberian English Liberian English refers to the varieties of English spoken in Liberia. Four such varieties exist: * Standard Liberian English, the Liberian variety of International English. It is the language taught in secondary and tertiary institutions. It ...

. Cooper is known across the country by her nickname, Sugars. She left Liberia as a young woman to attend university in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Activism

First Liberian Civil War

After returning to Liberia, Cooper became involved in the peace movement in 1994. As a co-founder and onetime chair of the Liberian Women’s Initiative, she served as a key figure in women's peace activism during the

first Liberian civil war The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...

. In 1998, Cooper was briefly arrested by the Liberia National Police after denouncing the murder of a woman at the hands of security forces.

Second Liberian Civil War and aftermath

As a part of

Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace is a peace movement started in 2003 by women in Monrovia, Liberia, Africa, that worked to end the Second Liberian Civil War. Organized by Crystal Roh Gawding and social workers Leymah Gbowee and Comfort Free ...

in the early 2000s, she played a major role in the nonviolent resistance campaign that led to the end of Liberia's second civil war. Cooper has also been involved in the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET), part of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding. After the second civil war ended, she helped organize women in favor of

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Eugenia Johnson Sirleaf (born 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Monrovia to a Gol ...

's 2005 presidential campaign, in which Sirleaf was elected the first female president of an African country. Cooper appears in the documentary '' Pray the Devil Back to Hell'' about women's role in the Liberian peace process. In 2006, she became the first-ever recipient of the 1325 Award from the Dutch government.

Political career

In April 2010, Cooper was elected mayor of her hometown,

Edina EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group. Services EDINA front and back ends, front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at ...

, which she aimed to turn into an eco-friendly, safe town that attracts tourists. In 2012, she was appointed superintendent of

by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and confirmed by the

Liberian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislative branch of Liberia, and together with the House of Representatives comprises the Legislature of Liberia. Each of the fifteen counties are equally represented by two senators, elected to s ...

. On her appointment, she became mayor emeritus of Edina. Her time in office included overseeing the county's response to the

Western African Ebola virus epidemic The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, was the most widespread outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and socioeconomic disruption in the region, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sie ...

. Later in her term, Cooper became chairperson of Liberia's Superintendent Council. She resigned as the county's superintendent in 2015, citing a "personal reason." In 2017, she ran to represent Grand Bassa in the Liberian House of Representatives, as a member of the

True Whig Party The True Whig Party (TWP), also known as the Liberian Whig Party (LWP), is the oldest political party in Liberia and Africa as a whole. Founded in 1869 by primarily darker-skinned Americo-Liberians in rural areas, its historic rival was the Re ...

, but she was not elected. Cooper is now retired from public political life, but she continues to mentor younger activists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Etweda Living people 21st-century Liberian women politicians Liberian women activists Liberian women's rights activists Liberian anti-war activists African women in war Liberian pacifists Women's rights in Africa Year of birth missing (living people) People from Grand Bassa County 21st-century Liberian politicians