Timeline: Sierra Leone

A chronology of key events

1787 - British abolitionists and philanthropists establish a settlement in Freetown for repatriated and rescued slaves.

Freetown, the capital, is a port city and commercial hub Settled by freed and rescued slaves in 18th century 1821: Made seat of government for British territories in West Africa Became capital in 1961

1808 - Freetown settlement becomes crown colony.

1896 - Britain sets up a protectorate over the Freetown hinterland.

1954 - Sir Milton Margai, leader of the Sierra Leone People's Party, appointed chief minister.

1961 - Sierra Leone becomes independent.

1967 - Military coup deposes Premier Siaka Stevens' government.

1968 - Siaka Stevens returns to power at the head of a civilian government following another military coup.

1971 - Sierra Leone declared a republic, Stevens becomes executive president.

1978 - New constitution proclaims Sierra Leone a one-party state with the All People's Congress as the sole legal party.

1985 - Major-General Joseph Saidu Momoh becomes president following Stevens's retirement.

1987 - Momoh declares state of economic emergency.

War and coups

1991 - Start of civil war. Former army corporal Foday Sankoh and his Revolutionary United Front (RUF) begin campaign against President Momoh, capturing towns on border with Liberia.

RUF rebels waged a campaign of amputation and rape

1991 September - New constitution providing for a multiparty system adopted.

1992 - President Joseph Momoh ousted in military coup led by Captain Valentine Strasser, apparently frustrated by failure to deal with rebels. Under international pressure, Strasser announces plans for the first multi-party elections since 1967.

1996 January - Strasser ousted in military coup led by his defence minister, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio.

1996 - Ahmad Tejan Kabbah elected president in February, signs peace accord with Sankoh's rebels in November.

1997 - Peace deal unravels. President Kabbah deposed by army in May. Major Johnny Paul Koroma, in prison awaiting the outcome of a treason trial, leads the military junta - the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Koroma suspends the constitution, bans demonstrations and abolishes political parties.

Kabbah flees to Guinea to mobilise international support.

1997 July - The Commonwealth suspends Sierra Leone.

1997 October - The UN Security Council imposes sanctions against Sierra Leone, barring the supply of arms and petroleum products. A British company, Sandline, nonetheless supplies "logistical support", including rifles, to Kabbah allies.

Searching for diamonds: The gems helped to fund the war

1998 February - Nigerian-led West African intervention force Ecomog storms Freetown and drives rebels out.

1998 March - Kabbah makes a triumphant return to Freetown amid scenes of public rejoicing.

1999 January - Rebels backing Revolutionary United Front leader Foday Sankoh seize parts of Freetown from Ecomog. After weeks of bitter fighting they are driven out, leaving behind 5,000 dead and a devastated city.

UN intervenes

1999 May - A ceasefire is greeted with cautious optimism in Freetown amid hopes that eight years of civil war may soon be over.

1999 July - Six weeks of talks in the Togolese capital, Lome, result in a peace agreement, under which the rebels receive posts in government and assurances they will not be prosecuted for war crimes.

1999 November/December - UN troops arrive to police the peace agreement - but one rebel leader, Sam Bokari, says they are not welcome. Meanwhile, Ecomog troops are attacked outside Freetown.

2000 April/May - UN forces come under attack in the east of the country, but far worse is in store when first 50, then several hundred UN troops are abducted.

The rebels did not spare children from mutilation 2005: S Leone's war amputees 'ignored'

2000 May - Rebels close in on Freetown; 800 British paratroopers sent to Freetown to evacuate British citizens and to help secure the airport for UN peacekeepers; rebel leader Foday Sankoh captured.

2000 August - Eleven British soldiers taken hostage by a renegade militia group called the West Side Boys.

Disarming rebels

2000 September - British forces mount operation to rescue remaining UK hostages.

2001 January - Government postpones presidential and parliamentary elections - set for February and March - because of continuing insecurity.

2001 March - UN troops for the first time begin to deploy peacefully in rebel-held territory.

2001 May - Disarmament of rebels begins, and British-trained Sierra Leone army starts deploying in rebel-held areas.

RUF leader Foday Sankoh was idolised as a lion by supporters RUF was notorious for mass rape and mutilations during civil war Sankoh died before being tried by UN-backed war crimes court 2003: Foday Sankoh - The cruel rebel Q&A: Sierra Leone's war crimes tribunal

2002 January - War declared over. UN mission says disarmament of 45,000 fighters is complete. Government, UN agree to set up war crimes court.

2002 May - Kabbah wins a landslide victory in elections. His Sierra Leone People's Party secures a majority in parliament.

2002 July - British troops leave Sierra Leone after their two-year mission to help end the civil war.

2003 July - Rebel leader Foday Sankoh dies of natural causes while waiting to be tried for war crimes.

2003 August - President Kabbah tells truth and reconciliation commission that he had no say over operations of pro-government militias during war.

2004 February - Disarmament and rehabilitation of more than 70,000 civil war combatants officially completed.

War crimes trials

Charles Taylor (right) faces a UN-backed court 2006: The charges against Charles Taylor Q&A: Trying Charles Taylor

2004 March - UN-backed war crimes tribunal opens courthouse to try senior militia leaders from both sides of civil war.

2004 May - First local elections in more than three decades.

2004 June - War crimes trials begin.

2004 September - UN hands control of security in capital over to local forces.

2005 August - UN Security Council authorises opening of a UN assistance mission in Sierra Leone from 2006, to follow departure of peacekeepers in December.

2005 December - The last UN peacekeeping troops leave Sierra Leone, marking the end of a five-year mission to restore order.

2006 March - Liberian ex-president Charles Taylor is arrested in Nigeria and handed over to the war crimes court in Sierra Leone which indicted him.

2006 August - Date for elections set for July 2007.

2006 December - President Kabbah says 90% of the country's $1.6bn (£815m) debt has been written off after negotiations with international creditors.

Taylor trial

2007 June - Start of former Liberian president Charles Taylor's war crimes trial in The Hague, where he stands accused of instigating atrocities in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone's special war crimes court in Freetown delivers its first verdicts, finding three militia leaders guilty.

2007 August - Presidential and parliamentary polls. Ernest Bai Koroma wins the presidency and his All People's Congress, formerly in opposition, wins a majority in parliament.

2008 January - Former Liberian president Charles Taylor's war crimes trial in The Hague resumes after a six-month delay.

2008 August - Local elections are marred by violence between the supporters of the two main parties

2009 April - UN-backed war crimes sentences three former senior leaders of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to long jail terms for atrocities committed during Sierra Leone's civil war.