Liberian former warlord Prince Johnson, who oversaw the brutal murder of former president Samuel Doe as civil wars rocked the country before later serving as a senator and political kingmaker, has died at the age of 72.

Prince Yormie Johnson, Liberian warlord-turned-politician, who became infamous for the 1990 footage of him sipping beer while the-then president was tortured nearby, has died at the age of 72.

Former Liberian warlord Prince Johnson, a key player in the country's back-to-back civil wars from 1989 to 2003, died Thursday aged 72, officials from his party and the Senate told AFP.

Former Liberian warlord, Senator Prince Johnson, who was forced into exile in Nigeria passed on on Thursday, November 28 in a hospital at the age of 72.