Major Events in Liberian History
By The Associated Press

July 1, 2003, 6:08 PM EDT

Key events in Liberian history beginning with independence in the 19th
century: 

* 1847: Country gains independence; draws up U.S. type constitution. 

* 1926: Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. opens plantation; rubber becomes
the 

backbone of the economy. 

* 1943: William Tubman is elected president; promotes foreign investment
and 

local participation in government. 

* 1971: Tubman dies and William Tolbert Jr. succeeds him. 

* 1981: President William Tolbert Jr. is assassinated in a coup led by
Master Sgt. Samuel Doe, who suspends the constitution. 

* 1984: Under pressure from the United States, Doe allows return of
political parties. 

* 1985: Doe is elected president. 

* 1989: National Patriotic Front of Liberia, led by Charles Taylor,
begins an uprising against the Doe government. 

* 1990: Doe is executed by an offshoot of Taylor's movement. 

* 1995: Economic Community of West African States brokers a peace treaty
between two warring movements. 

* 1997: Taylor is elected president. 

* 1999: Britain and the United States threaten to suspend aid after
Liberia is accused of supporting militants in neighboring Sierra Leone. 

* September 2000: Liberian forces launch offensive against rebels in the
country's north. 

* March 2001: United Nations imposes arms embargo to punish Taylor for
trading weapons for diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone. 

* November 2001: Government forces start new offensive against rebels. 

* January 2002: More than 50,000 Liberia and Sierra Leone refugees flee.


-2003 

* April: New rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia, makes gains
in southeast. 

* June 4: Taylor is indicted for war crimes committed during his
involvement in Sierra Leone civil war. 

* June 6: Rebels clash with government forces outside Liberian capital
Monrovia; refugee camps fall into rebel hands. 

* June 17: Taylor says he will step down under a cease-fire agreement. 

* June 20: Taylor renounces his peace pledge to cede power in Liberia,
announcing he will serve to the January 2004 end of his term -- and
might run again. 

* June 23: The main rebel group in Liberia -- Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy -- says it's pulling out of peace talks. 

* June 27: Taylor's forces claimed to have driven rebels out of
Liberia's capital after a four-day artillery battle that killed
hundreds. 

* June 28: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asks the Security Council
for an international peace force for Liberia. 

* June 30: West African leaders ask for 2,000 American troops to head a
predominantly African force to stop the turmoil and keep the peace. 

* July 1: Taylor turns down a secret deal to give him safe haven in
Nigeria, senior U.N. diplomats say. Annan steps up pressure on Bush
administration to take leading role. 
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press

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