Key dates in Liberian conflict
2003-10-15 09:42
Monrovia - Liberia's interim government was due to be sworn in Tuesday under the leadership of businessman Gyude Bryant.
Bryant, who takes over from Moses Blah, the head of a caretaker administration since disgraced leader Charles Taylor stood down in August, is tasked with consolidating peace in Liberia and guiding it to elections in two years.
Following are key dates in the conflicts that have rocked the west African country almost continuously since 1989.
December 24, 1989: The National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) launches a rebellion led by warlord Charles Taylor. The uprising leads to one of Africa's most brutal civil wars, involving at least seven rival factions and claiming 250 000 lives.
1990
June: Month-long siege of the capital Monrovia.
August: Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) sends peacekeeping force which secures Monrovia in October.
September: Doe is assassinated by an offshoot of the NPFL.
1992
November: Interim unity government is set up.
1995
August: Peace agreement signed.
1996
April: Fighting resumes in Monrovia.
August: New peace timetable established for Liberia by Ecowas.
1997
July: Taylor wins elections and is sworn in as president on August 2.
1998
September 18-19: Fighting erupts in Monrovia between government forces and partisans of former warlord Roosevelt Johnson.
1999
August-September: Fighting rages between government troops and forces in the north. A state of emergency is declared. Guinea, Liberia's northeastern neighbour, denies Taylor's accusations of staging attacks in the north.
2001
January: The United Nations accuses Taylor of fuelling the civil war in Sierra Leone and profiting from commerce in "blood diamonds" and arms traffic, and slaps sanctions on Liberia.
2002
February 8: Taylor declares state of emergency as rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) make their way towards Monrovia, displacing thousands.
May 12: Liberia's second city, Gbarnga, falls to LURD before being recaptured by government soldiers.
September 14: Taylor lifts state of emergency.
September 17: A UN-backed International Contact Group on Liberia, comprising two permanent members of the UN Security Council the United States and Britain is created with the aim of ending the war.
2003
March: A new rebel group, the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), emerges.
May 6: UN sanctions on Liberia are extended for another year.
May 19: Taylor rules out sharing power with rebels. MODEL seizes the southeastern ports of Harper and Pleebo.
June 4: A UN-mandated court in Freetown announces it has indicted Taylor for war crimes relating to Sierra Leone's civil war as peace talks are officially opened in Accra.
June 5: LURD launches siege on Monrovia, refuses to dialogue with Taylor.
July 4: Ecowas agrees to send a 3 000-strong force to Liberia.
July 17: LURD rebels launch new offensive, reaching far into Monrovia.
July 28: MODEL seizes Liberia's second largest port Buchanan.
Aug 4: The first soldiers of the west African peacekeeping force arrive in Monrovia.
Aug 11: Taylor hands power to his deputy Moses Blah and heads for exile in Nigeria.
Aug 14: Amid widespread looting, west African peacekeepers take control of Monrovia's port from rebels. Blah holds peace talks in Accra with rebel leaders.
Aug 18: The warring sides sign a peace agreement in Accra setting up a 76-member interim government due to take over from Blah's caretaker government in October.
Aug 21: Gyude Bryant named head of the interim government.
Aug 24: A batallion of Nigerian soldiers arrives in Monrovia to bolster the ranks of west African peacekeepers.
Witnesses report around 1 000 villagers killed in a massacre in Nimba County, northeast of Monrovia.
Sept 12: The chief UN envoy for Liberia, Jacques Klein, accuses Taylor of continuing to interfere in Liberian politics from exile in Nigeria.
Sept 19: The UN Security Council approves sending 15 000 peacekeepers to Liberia.
Oct 1: West African peacekeepers are integrated into a UN force as it takes over policing Liberia's ceasefire, as at least seven people are killed in a clash in Monrovia between LURD and government supporters, which prevents a meeting going ahead between Blah and rebel leader Sekou Damate Conneh.
Oct 14: Interim government due to be sworn in.