\n Liberia, which elects a new president on Tuesday, is an English-speaking nation in West Africa that is still scarred by a gruesome civil war and a devastating Ebola outbreak.\n<\/p>\n
\n Here is a snapshot of the country:\n<\/p>\n
\n - Oldest republic in Africa -\n<\/p>\n
\n In 1822 the United States starts sending freed black slaves to a part of West Africa that eventually becomes Liberia. The new arrivals declare independence in 1847, establishing the first republic in Africa.\n<\/p>\n
\n Descendants of former slaves run the country until the assassination in 1980 of president William Tolbert in a coup led by Samuel Doe, who establishes an authoritarian and corrupt regime.\n<\/p>\n
\n Doe is captured in 1990, at the height of civil war, and tortured to death by men loyal to warlord Prince Johnson, one of the candidates in Tuesday's election.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 14 years of civil war -\n<\/p>\n
\n The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) of Charles Taylor launches a rebellion in December 1989 in the northeast that quickly takes control of most of the country but not the capital, Monrovia.\n<\/p>\n
\n The civil war involves seven rival factions until it ends under a peace accord in 1997.\n<\/p>\n
\n In the elections that follow, Taylor is elected president.\n<\/p>\n
\n Violence again erupts in 1999 when another rebellion flares and Taylor loses control of much of the country, fleeing in 2003 to Nigeria.\n<\/p>\n
\n The death toll from 14 years of civil war is estimated at 250,000 with hundreds of thousands of people displaced. Some of the worst abuses are perpetuated by government forces.\n<\/p>\n
\n In 2012, Taylor is convicted by an international criminal court of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n - First female leader in Africa -\n<\/p>\n
\n President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becomes Africa's first female head of state in 2005 when she wins presidential elections.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Ma Ellen\" wins relection in 2011, and a month later is co-awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as a champion of women's rights.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 78-year-old has served two terms and so is barred from standing in the coming election.\n<\/p>\n
\n - Worst-hit by Ebola -\n<\/p>\n
\n Liberia suffered the most deaths in West Africa's 2014-16 outbreak of Ebola.\n<\/p>\n
\n The virus killed 11,300 people in three countries, more than 4,800 of them in Liberia.\n<\/p>\n
\n - A recovering economy -\n<\/p>\n
\n The years of civil war devastated the economy and infrastructure of Liberia, which is rich in natural resources such as minerals and forests.\n<\/p>\n
\n Growth stagnated at zero percent over 2014 and 2016 because of the Ebola outbreak and a fall in commodity prices, the World Bank says.\n<\/p>\n
\n But prospects are better for 2017 with gold production and improvements in service likely to account for better economic performance, it says.\n<\/p>\n
\n Most of the population of 4.7 million people lives without basic services such as water and electricity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liberia, which elects a new president on Tuesday, is an English-speaking nation in West Africa that is still scarred by a gruesome civil war and a devastating Ebola outbreak. Here is a snapshot of the country: - Oldest republic in Africa - In 1822 the United States starts sending freed black slaves to a part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-34882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n