 Conflict in Sierra Leone |
Work Cited
Timeline
TIMELINE
1991 -- 
Former army Corporal Foday Sankoh leads Revolutionary United Front (RUF) attacks on Sierra Leone border towns from Liberia.
1992 -- 
RUF starts to target civilians in Sierra Leone, their hallmark being amputations. 120,000 flee to Guinea.
1994 -- RUF takes over Sierra Leone diamond areas. The capital Freetown is threatened. More than 50,000 have been killed and about half the country's 4.5 million people have been displaced.
1995 -- RUF beaten back from Freetown and diamond areas liberated.
1996 
-- Sierra Leone elections marred by RUF violence. Ahmed Tejan Kabbah becomes president. RUF and Kabbah sign a peace accord.
1997 -- Soldiers release 600 prison inmates and seize power to form the Armed Forces Ruling Council. Kabbah flees. Major Johnny Paul Koroma, a former coup plotter, becomes chairman and invites RUF to join government.
1998 
-- ECOMOG (Economic Community Cease-fire Monitoring Group) launches offensive on Freetown driving out AFRC/RUF. Kabbah returns. Sierra Leone armed forces disbanded. AFRC/RUF continue to attack towns and villages throughout country. U.N peacekeepers sent in. .
2000 -- RUF kidnap 500 peacekeepers. UK sends in paratroopers. Sankoh detained. U.N. imposes global embargo on diamond exports from Sierra Leone.
