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The West African nation was relatively calm until 1980 when William Tolbert was overthrown by Sergeant Samuel Doe. Arbitrary rule and economic collapse culminated in civil war when Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) militia overran much of the countryside, entering the capital in 1990. Mr. Doe was executed.

Fighting intensified as the rebels splintered and battled each other, the Liberian army and West African peacekeepers. In 1995, a peace agreement was signed, leading to the election of Mr. Taylor as president.

The respite was brief, with anti-government fighting breaking out in the north in 1999. Mr. Taylor accused Guinea of supporting the rebellion. Meanwhile Ghana, Nigeria and others accused Mr. Taylor of backing rebels in Sierra Leone.

Matters came to a head in 2003 when Mr. Taylor - under international pressure to quit and hemmed in by rebels - stepped down and went into exile in Nigeria. A transitional government steered the country towards elections in 2005.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became president in 2006 after the first polls since the end of the civil war.

Around 250,000 people were killed in Liberia's civil war and many thousands more fled the fighting. The conflict left the country in economic ruin and overrun with weapons. The capital remains without mains electricity and running water. Corruption is rife and unemployment and illiteracy are endemic.