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SLPP wins plurality of seats in parliment
The Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) won plurality of seats in parliament and Sir Milton Margai was re-elected as prime minister. -
Sir Malton Margai becomes Prime Minister of Sierra Leone
Sir Milton Margai led Sierra Leone to independence from Great Britain and became the country's first Prime Minister. -
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Sierra Leone becomes independant
Sierra Leone declares independance from the United Kingdoms -
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Sir Milton Margai's time as Prime Minister
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Sierra Leone Holds first general election as independant nation
In May 1962, Sierra Leone held its first general election as an Independent nation. -
Sir Milton Margai Dies
Sir Milton's unexpectedly dies. -
Albert Margai Elected new Prime minister
Albert Margai, Milton Margais brother, is elected as prime minister as parliment -
NRC takes over government in Coup
a group of senior military officers in the Sierra Leone Army led by Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith overrode this action by seizing control of the government, arresting Brigadier Lansana, and suspending the constitution. The group constituted itself as the National Reformation Council (NRC) with Brigadier Andrew Juxon-Smith as its chairman and Head of State of the country. -
ACP wins majority seats in parlament
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Saika Stevens wins election
Saika Stevens wins a closely contested prime minister. Within hours after taking office, Stevens was ousted in a bloodless military coup led by the commander of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces Brigadier General David Lansana, a close ally of Sir Albert Margai who had appointed him to the position in 1964. Brigadier Lansana placed Stevens under house arrest in Freetown and insisted the determination of office of the Prime Minister should await the election of the tribal representatives to the hous -
ACRM has coup and reinstates Stevens
a group of senior military officers who called themselves the Anti-Corruption Revolutionary Movement led by Brigadier General John Amadu Bangura overthrew the NRC junta. The ACRM juntas arrested many senior NRC members. The constitution was reinstated, and power was returned to Stevens, who at last assumed the office of Prime Minister. -
Bangura arrested and tried
Brigadier Bangura, who was a popular military commander at the time, was arrested and charged with conspiracy and plotting to commit a coup against the Stevens' government. After a trial that lasted a few months, Bangura was convicted and sentenced to death. -
Brigadier Bangura Hanged
On 29 March 1970, Brigadier Bangura was executed by hanging in Freetown. -
Sierra Leone Becomes a Republic
Sierra Leone becomes a republic. -
Alleged rebellion leaders executed
On 19 July 1975, 14 senior army and government officials including Brigadier David Lansana, former cabinet minister Mohamed Sorie Forna, Brigadier General Ibrahim Bash Taqi and Lieutenant Habib Lansana Kamara were executed after being convicted for allegedly attempting a coup to topple president Stevens' government. -
Nation wide student demonstration takes place
a nationwide student demonstration against the government disrupted Sierra Leone politics. However, the demonstration was quickly put down by the army and Stevens' own personal Special Security Division (SSD) force, a heavily arm paramilitary force he had created to protect him and to maintain his hold on power -
Sierra Leone becomes a one-party state
the APC dominant parliament approved a new constitution making the country a one-party state. The 1978 constitition made the APC the only legal political party in Sierra Leone -
Saika Stevens Retires
Siaka Stevens retires from politics -
Momoh elected president of Sierra Leone
Momoh was elected President as the only contesting candidate and was sworn in as Sierra Leone's second president -
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Sierra Leone Civil War
The Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002) began on 23 March 1991 when the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), with support from the special forces of Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL), intervened in Sierra Leone in an attempt to overthrow the Joseph Momoh government. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, enveloped the country, and left over 50,000 deadgovernment. The resulting civil war lasted 11 years, enveloped the country, and left over 50,000 dead. -
Sierra Leone becomes multi-party state again
due to mounting pressure from both within and outside the country for political and economic reform, president Momoh set up a constitutional review commission to assess the 1978 one-party constitution. Based on the commission's recommendations a constitution re-establishing a multi-party system was approved by the exclusive APC Parliament by a 60% majority vote, becoming effective on 1 October 1991. -
NRPC has coup, sends Momoh into exile
On 29 April 1992, a 25-year-old Captain Valentine Strasser led seven junior officers in the Sierra Leone army that included Lieutenant Sahr Sandy, Lieutenant Solomon Musa, Lieutenant Tom Nyuma, Captain Julius Maada Bio and Captain Komba Mondeh that launched a military coup, which sent president Momoh into exile in Guinea and the young soldiers established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Strasser as its chairman and Head of State of the country. -
deputy NPRC leader Lt. Solomon Musu exiled
On 5 July 1994 the deputy NPRC leader Lieutenant Solomon Musu was arrested and sent into exile after he was accused of planning a coup to topple Strasser. Strasser replaced Musa as deputy NPRC chairman with Captain Julius Maada Bio, who was instantly promoted by Strasser to Brigadier. -
NPRC takes back land from APC by hiring mercenaries 1/2
The NPRC proved to be nearly as ineffectual as the Momoh-led APC government in repelling the RUF. More and more of the country fell to RUF fighters, and by 1994 they held much of the diamond-rich Eastern Province and were at the edge of Freetown. In response, the NPRC hired several hundred mercenaries from the private firm Executive Outcomes. -
NPRC takes back land from APC by hiring mercenaries 2/2
Within a month they had driven RUF fighters back to enclaves along Sierra Leone’s borders, and cleared the RUF from the Kono diamond producing areas of Sierra Leone -
Strasser arrested in coup and sent into exile
after about four years in power, Strasser was arrested in a coup by his fellow NPRC soldiers, led by his deputy Brigadier Julis Maada Bio. Strasser was immediately flown into exile in a military helicopter to Conakry, Guinea. In his first public broadcast to the nation following the 1996 coup, Brigadier Bio stated that his support for returning Sierra Leone to a democratically elected civilian government and his commitment to ending the Sierra Leone civil war were his motivati -
Sierra Leone returns to civilian government
Promises of a return to civilian rule were fulfilled by Bio, who handed power over to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP), after the conclusion of elections President Kabbah took power with a great promise of ending the civil war. President Kabbah open dialogue with the RUF and invited RUF leader Foday Sankoh for peace negotiation. -
Corporal Tamba Gborie launched military coup which sent President Kabbah into exile 1/2
On 25 May 1997, seventeen soldiers in the Sierra Leone army led by Corporal Tamba Gborie, loyal to the detained Major General Johnny Paul Koroma, launched a military coup which sent President Kabbah into exile in Guinea and they established the Armed Forces Revolutionay Council (AFRC). Corporal Gborie quickly went to the SLBS FM 99.9 headquarters in Freetown to announce the coup to a shocked nation and to alert all soldiers across the country to report for guard duty. -
Corporal Tamba Gborie launched military coup which sent President Kabbah into exile 2/2
The soldiers immediately released Koroma from prison and installed him as their chairman and Head of State. Koroma suspended the constitution, banned demonstrations, shut down all private radio stations in the country and invited the RUF to join the new junta government, with its leader Foday Sankoh as the Vice-Chairman of the new AFRC-RUF coalition junta government. Within days, Freetown was overwhelmed by the presence of the RUF combatants who came to the city in their thousands. -
Junta ousted and Kabbah reinstated as president
After 10 months in office, the junta was ousted by the Nigeria-led ECOMOG forces, and the democratically elected government of president Kabbah was reinstated in March 1998. -
Junta leaders tried and executed
On 12 October 1998 twenty five soldiers in the Sierra Leone army, including Corporal Tamba Gborie, Brigadier Hassan Karim Conteh, Colonel Abdul Karim Sesay and Major Kula Samba were executed after they were convicted at a court martial in Freetown for orchestrating the 1997 coup that ousted president Kabbah from power -
Lome Peace Accord is signed 1/2
The Lome Peace Accord, signed on 27 March 1999, was the result. Lome gave Foday Sankoh, the commander of the RUF, the vice presidency and control of Sierra Leone's diamond mines in return for a cessation of the fighting and the deployment of a UN peacekeeping force to monitor the disarmament process. -
Lome Peace Accord is signed 2/2
RUF compliance with the disarmament process was inconsistent and sluggish, and by May 2000, the rebels were advancing again upon Freetown. -
UN sends peacekeepers to restore order in Sierra Leone 1/2
In October 1999, the United Nations agreed to send peacekeepers to help restore order and disarm the rebels. The first of the 6,000-member force began arriving in December, and the UN Security Council voted in February 2000 to increase the force to 11,000, and later to 13,000. But in May, when nearly all Nigerian forces had left and UN forces were trying to disarm the RUF in eastern Sierra Leone, -
UN sends peacekeepers to restore order in Sierra Leone 2/2
The hostage crisis resulted in more fighting between the RUF and the government as UN troops launched Operation Khukri to end the siege. The Operation was successful with Indian and British Special Forces being the main contingents. -
President Kabbah Declares Sierra Leone civil war officially over
18 January 2002, President Kabbah declared the Sierra Leone Civil War officially over. -
Charles Taylor taken into custody
