Archbishop Desmond Tutu has welcomed the decision to give the Nobel Peace Prize to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Sirleaf was elected Africa’s first woman president in 2005 and has since set Liberia on a path towards recovery after the country was left in tatters by 14 years of bloody civil war.

She shares the prize jointly with Liberian “peace warrior” Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman, an activist in Yemen.

Tutu said Sirleaf, known by supporters as the “Iron Lady”, deserved to win the award “many times over”.

“The president of Liberia? She deserves it many times over," he said.

"She’s brought stability to a place that was going to hell.”

Tutu made the comments as he left a service at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town to celebrate his 80th birthday yesterday.

His birthday celebrations were joined by U2 frontman Bono, who said Sirleaf was an “extraordinary” woman that he felt lucky to have worked with on the cancellation of Liberia’s debt.