Chronic political and criminal violence has plagued Haiti for two years since its first democratically elected president was forced into exile.

Much of the capital Port-au-Prince is at the mercy of armed gangs. Murder, kidnappings and rape are commonplace. Corruption is rife and the country's infrastructure is shattered.

The violence escalated in the run-up to elections on Feb. 7, intended to replace an interim government which has ruled the country since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was forced into exile in early 2004.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) included Haiti in its top 10 most under-reported emergencies at the end of 2005. Haiti was also named as one of the world's biggest "forgotten" crises in an AlertNet poll of experts in early 2005.

"Civilians in many parts of (the capital) Port-au-Prince are struggling just to survive," said Ali Besnaci, MSF's head of mission for Haiti. "Every day, people throughout the city tell us that they have never experienced such levels of violence before."

A 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force has struggled to control the anarchy.

At the root of Haiti's social problems is the huge wealth gap between the predominantly Creole-speaking blacks who make up 95 percent of the population and the French-speaking mulattos who own the bulk of the country's wealth.

Haiti, which shares the Caribbean island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic, is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was $361 in 2003 (source: World Bank). The country also has one of the highest rates of HIV infection outside sub-Saharan Africa.

Donors promised Haiti some $1 billion in aid in 2004, but very little has been dispersed because of the instability and because there has been no functioning government to handle it.

Political violence isn't the only threat to life in Haiti - the country lies in the middle of the hurricane belt.

Some 6,000 people died in natural disasters in 2004 alone. Around half were killed when floods from Tropical Storm Jeanne swept down hillsides in September to engulf Gonaives, a city of 250,000 people on the northwest coast. The disaster was blamed on deforestation.

Two years on, thousands of people are still living in makeshift shacks they erected themselves after their homes were destroyed.

Tropical Storm Jeanne came four months after flash floods wreaked havoc in the south of Haiti.

Haiti's abject poverty, lack of infrastructure or early warning system and its ecological degradation make it vulnerable to even the weakest of storms.

The mountainous country was once heavily wooded, but 98 percent of its forests have been chopped down for charcoal for cooking, leading to severe soil erosion and an increased risk of flash floods.

For more on the country's natural disasters see: Why is Haiti so prone to disaster?

Violence and poverty have forced many Haitians to flee in recent decades. It is estimated nearly a fifth of Haitians live abroad, predominantly in North America, the Dominican Republic and France.

Those in the Dominican Republic, most of them illegal immigrants, work on cattle ranches and sugar plantations, or as domestic servants and construction workers in conditions that human rights groups say frequently approach slavery.

The United States has imposed a sea blockade since the early 1990s to intercept refugee boats and stop Haitians reaching U.S. soil and claiming asylum. Many still try but are sent back. Some drown when their boats sink during the perilous crossing.

At the beginning of 2005, 9,200 Haitians were registered as refugees with the UNHCR. Most of them live in France and the United States.

The UNHCR says asylum seekers picked up at sea should not be sent back to Haiti if they fear persecution.

"Bottom line is, all nationalities should be given equal access to protection whether within national territory or on the high seas. Our concern with Haitians is that they may not get an adequate opportunity to express their fears of persecution," UNHCR spokeswoman Marie-Helene Verney said.

Although the country won independence from France in 1804 Haitians had to wait nearly two centuries before they got the chance to pick their own leader in a democratic election.

The most notorious period in recent history was the Duvalier dictatorship when tens of thousands were killed or exiled. Voodoo physician Francois Duvalier, "Papa Doc", who seized power in 1956, used his Tonton Macoutes paramilitary group to terrorise the population. He ruled until his death in 1971.

Papa Doc was succeeded by his son Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier, who fled to France in 1986 following an uprising.

An interim government, headed by General Henri Namphy, was supposed to oversee a two-year transition to democracy, but polls in 1987 were aborted after gunmen linked to the Duvalier government massacred at least 34 voters.

Most Haitians boycotted army-run elections in 1988 and the winner was toppled within months. After two more years of turmoil, Haiti held its first free elections in December 1990.

Aristide, a fiery leftist Roman Catholic priest and a champion of Haiti's poor, won by a landslide, raising hopes the country was finally on the road to stability.

He forced military leaders to retire, announced he would clean up Duvalierist corruption and promised to introduce democratic reform. But the military, supported by the wealthy elite, ousted Aristide just seven months later.

Coup leader Lt Gen Raoul Cedras headed a brutal regime, violently repressing Haiti's grassroots movement.

More than 40,000 Haitians fled the country in rickety boats in 1991 and 1992. Many ended up at a refugee camp at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and were eventually sent back to Haiti.

After the United Nations imposed an oil and arms embargo against Haiti in June 1993, Cedras signed a U.N.-brokered pact with Aristide calling for the restoration of democracy.

But the military refused to step aside as promised, prompting the United Nations to authorise a U.S.-led invasion in September 1994.

Aristide resumed office for the rest of his term and promptly disbanded the military. The constitution barred him from immediate re-election and he was succeeded in 1995 by his protégé Rene Preval, who is set to return to the helm following the recent election.

Aristide returned to power in 2001. However his victory was not recognised by the main opposition parties who had boycotted the presidential election, accusing Aristide's Lavalas party of fraud in earlier parliamentary polls which were criticised by international observers.

By 2003 the country was deeply divided between pro- and anti-Aristide camps. Aristide, once seen as a hero of democracy, was accused of despotism and corruption and fled in 2004 in the midst of an armed revolt and under intense U.S. and French pressure.

Aristide accused the United States of kidnapping him after arriving in Central African Republic on a U.S.-arranged flight. But Washington said he had resigned.

After his departure an interim government took over and the United Nations sent a peacekeeping force to prevent the country descending into civil war.

Those behind the current bloodshed include criminal street gangs, pro-Aristide supporters and "rebels", former members of the army who played a key role in forcing Aristide out.

Gunfights and kidnappings have prompted many aid groups to scale back their work in the capital's most violent slum, Cite Soleil, which is home to between 300,000 and 600,000 people.

Cite Soleil and other shanty towns were the bedrock of Aristide's grass-roots Lavalas movement that first swept him to the presidency.

The interim government has blamed Aristide for fomenting violence from exile in South Africa. Its hard line against Aristide supporters has prompted an outcry from human rights groups.

Preval has distanced himself from Aristide but has not ruled out allowing him to return from exile.