President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, who in 2005 became the first female president of an African country, said that Lady Thatcher inspired women to enter politics.
"I think she was a role model because she came at a time when women participation and women leadership was in scarce supply. And so she had to, to take second decision. She had to act the role not so much as a woman, but she had to act as a leader. And because of her, many of us were inspired, inspired to be strong, inspired to follow her footsteps in leadership.”
In France, reaction to Lady Thatcher’s death has been more guarded than in many other countries. Hugh Schofield reports from Paris.
In France, in most circles, Thatcherism remains a bad word, the same as ultra-liberalism. So the country’s leaders have had to pick their way carefully through the tributes. President Hollande said that she’d been a great patriot, and that her relation to France had always been frank and loyal. But the Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault spoke for many when he said that the Thatcher years had caused much economic and social damage with liberalisation carried to
excess
and the undermining of public services whose consequences we see today.
World News from the BBC
In other news, the Syrian government says it will not allow a United Nations team of chemical weapons experts into the country. Last month Damascus asked the UN to investigate one alleged chemical weapons attack which it claimed was carried out by rebels. Today the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon suggested all reports about the use of such weapons should be examined and that a team of specialists was awaiting deployment.