The interim Council of State consisted of a civilian chairman, as well as members of warring factions: Charles Taylor, United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-K leader Alhaji Kromah, Liberia Peace Council leader George Boley, and two other civilians.
[4] Perry was born on 16 July 1939, in a rural area of Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia, the daughter of Marjon and AlHaji Semila Fahnbulleh.
After her children were grown, Perry worked in the Monrovia office of Chase Manhattan Bank in 1971, and taught at a Sande school as an elder.
[7] On 17 August 1996, after 17 years of conflict and 7 years of war, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) representatives negotiated a cease-fire between Liberia's warring factions and announced that Perry would replace Wilton Sankawulo as Chairman of the Council of State in an interim government.
Reportedly all four warlords in the Liberian conflict had agreed to the peace agreement with Perry as interim leader,[5] after her return from a brief exile in Staten Island, New York.