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Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia,
is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone,
Guinea, and Côte d'Ivoire. Liberia, which means "Land
of the Free", was founded as an independent nation by freed-slaves
from the U.S. and formerly enslaved African Americans. Recently
it has witnessed two civil wars, the Liberian Civil War (1989–1996),
and the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), that have displaced
hundreds of thousands and destroyed its economy. The founding of
Liberia was privately sponsored by American religious and philanthropic
groups, but the country enjoyed the support and unofficial cooperation
of the United States government. Liberia’s government, modeled
after that of the United States, was democratic in structure, if
not always in substance.
On 12 April 1980, a successful military coup
was staged by a group of noncommissioned Krahn officers led by
Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe, and they executed the President
of nine years, William R. Tolbert, Jr., in his mansion. Calling
themselves the People’s Redemption Council, Doe and his
associates seized control of the government and brought an end
to Africa’s ‘first republic’.
In late 1989, a civil war began, and in September
1990 Doe was ousted and killed by the forces of faction leader Yormie
Johnson and members of the Gio tribe. As a condition for the end
of the conflict, interim president Amos Sawyer resigned in 1994,
handing power to the Council of State. Prominent warlord Charles
Taylor was elected as President in 1997. Taylor's brutal regime
targeted several leading opposition and political activists. More
than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the civil
wars. The conflict intensified in mid-2003, and the fighting moved
into Monrovia. As the power of the government shrank and with increasing
international and American pressure for him to resign, President
Charles Taylor accepted an asylum offer by Nigeria.
After the exile of Taylor, Gyude Bryant was
appointed Chairman of the transitional government in late 2003.
The primary task of the transitional government was to prepare
for fair and peaceful democratic elections. With UN and ECOMOG
troops safeguarding the peace, Liberia successfully conducted
presidential elections in the fall of 2005. Twenty three candidates
stood for the October 11, 2005 general election, with the early
favorite George Weah, internationally famous footballer, UNICEF
Goodwill Ambassador and member of the Kru ethnic group expected
to dominate the popular vote. No candidate took the required majority
in the general election, so that a run-off between the top two
vote getters, Weah and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, was necessary. The
November 8, 2005 presidential runoff election was won decisively
by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Daughter of the first indigenous Liberian
to be elected to the national legislature, Ellen Johnson,
Sirleaf was born in rural Liberia. Widely celebrated for being
the first elected female head of state in Africa, Johnson Sirleaf’s
election focused much international attention on Liberia. A former
Citibank and World Bank employee, Johnson Sirleaf’s impressive
career also includes heading the U.N. Development Programme for
Africa. Long involved in her country’s fight for peace and
justice, Johnson Sirleaf was jailed twice during the Doe administration.
Jailed once for eight months, she narrowly escaped with her life
before going into exile. Delivering a message of hope and reconciliation
in her inauguration speech, Johnson Sirleaf hopes to bring her
credentials to bear and enlist the help of the international
community in rebuilding Liberia’s economy and infrastructure.
Following her inauguration on January 16,
2005, Ellen walked through the streets of Monrovia to cheerful
and joyful crowds and she announced a 150 day plan and set about
re-building Liberia.

Information contributed by wikipedia.com
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