MONROVIA, July 15: US President George W. Bush has said he is open to a “limited” deployment of US troops to prop up a ceasefire in turbulent Liberia, where protracted warfare has destabilised the region.

Liberia’s main rebel group on Tuesday urged the United States to rush a huge force into the war-torn country and “flex its muscles” to push President Charles Taylor into exile and end a brutal four-year civil war.

“The overwhelming presence of the US troops in Liberia before the arrival of west African peacekeepers is highly desirable,” Kabineh Ja’neh, a spokesman for the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebels, told AFP from Ghana. “The earlier the better.”

Below are key facts about Liberia:

• 1847 - Freed American slaves proclaim independent republic on land bought for them by US groups.

• Capital Monrovia named after US President James Monroe.

• Population: 3.3 million (2003 UN figure).

• Languages: English, 29 African languages.

• Religions: Christianity, Islam, indigenous beliefs.

• Liberia is Africa’s oldest independent republic, and its people feel a close historical bond with the United States.

• Liberia has a lucrative business offering world shipping owners flags of convenience.

• It once boasted the world’s largest rubber plantation — owned by Firestone — which resumed production on a smaller scale after the war.

• Descendants of the slaves, known as Congos, dominated political power for most of Liberia’s existence.—Reuters