US and UN troops enter Somalia in an attempt to restore peace to the country.

1993 The World Trade Center in New York is rocked by a car bomb. A siege in Waco, Texas ends in bloodshed as FBI agents storm the compound of the Branch Davidian religious cult.

1994 US troops are sent to Haiti to depose its military leaders.

Clinton faces the "Whitewater" investigation into his financial dealings in Arkansas, where he had been governor before becoming president, and sexual harassment charges, which are filed by a former employee.

1995 - A car bomb in Oklahoma kills more than 160 people in worst ever incident of its kind in US. US troops are deployed to Bosnia as part of Nato force.

1996 - Clinton is re-elected, beating Republican rival Bob Dole. A bomb-carrying truck explodes outside a US base at Khobar Towers, Saudi Arabia, killing 19 US servicemen.

1998 - The scandal over Clinton's sexual impropriety with White House worker Monica Lewinsky dominates the domestic political agenda and leads to impeachment proceedings in Congress.

The US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania are shaken by bombings. In response, President Clinton orders the bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan.

1999 Clinton is acquitted in the Senate impeachment trial.

1999 The US plays leading role in the Nato bombardment of Yugoslavia in response to Serb violence against ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo.

2000 The contest for the presidency between the Vice-President, Democrat Al Gore, and the Republican Party candidate George W Bush produces one of the closest races ever. Bush is initially declared the winner in the crucial state of Florida, but the margin is so small that there is an automatic recount.

The Democrats mount a series of legal challenges, which last several weeks and eventually involve the Supreme Court. Bush is finally declared the winner in Florida, which enables him to take the presidency, albeit with a smaller share of the national vote than Gore.