Haiti was the world's first black republic and the first Caribbean state to achieve independence, but decades of violence, instability, dictatorship and coups have left it the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.

The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) included Haiti in its top 10 most under-reported emergencies at the end of 2005. More than half the population live on less than a dollar a day and the country is awash with weapons.

A chunk of the capital, Port-au-Prince, is at the mercy of armed gangs. Hundreds of people have been killed in the last year and hundreds more kidnapped. A 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force has failed to quell the violence.

Both criminal gangs and political militias - supporters and opponents of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide - are blamed for the bloodshed.

Aristide went into exile in 2004 following an armed rebellion and under pressure from the United States and France. His one-time ally Rene Preval won presidential elections in February 2006. Preval will replace the interim government appointed after Aristide's departure.