A rebel group, the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), led by Corporal Foday Saybannah Sankoh invaded Sierra Leone from Liberia and attacked two Sierra Leonean towns on 23 March 1991. A week before the invasion, Sankoh had given an ultimatum to President Momoh to reintroduce a multi-party system or quit office. Nigerian and Guinean troops assisted Sierra Leone in the counter-offensive. ECOWAS started leading discussions between the Government and the RUF in early 1992. The talks failed and the hostilities continued. The RUF and the Government met again in Abidjan in February1996. In March a ceasefire agreement was signed in Yamoussoukro. Negotiations continued in April, May and July. A peace agreement was finally reached on 30 November 1996 in Abidjan. On 25 May 1997, a coup was staged by a military faction. The coup leaders then created the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and invited the RUF to participate in the new military Government. ECOMOG intervened and seized the capital in February 1998. The civil Government of Kabbah was reinstalled on 10 March 1998. The AFRC continued the fighting together with the RUF against ECOMOG and the civilian Government. New peace negotiations took place in Togo in May 1999. On 7 July 1999, a power-sharing agreement is reached in Lomé between the Government and the RUF. After the RUF had negotiated the power-sharing agreement with the Government in July 1999, the AFRC continued to attack ECOMOG and clashed with the RUF. The UN decided to send a mission (UNAMSIL) at the end of 1999. On 8 May 2000, British paratroopers were deployed unilaterally to evacuate British and other foreign nationals. A few days later, it seemed that the British troops would stay to assist the Sierra Leonean army and UNAMSIL against the RUF forces which had resumed fighting. A new ceasefire agreement between the RUF and the Government was signed on 10 November 2000 in Abuja. The agreement also raffirmed the Lomé Peace Agreement of 7 July 1999. No activity by the AFRC was further reported and the conflict was considered terminated by 2001. However, fighting continued into 2002 between small factions refusing to disarm and the Government.

http://www.pcr.uu.se/database/conflictSummary.php?bcID=94