125-132)
             Six weeks before the scheduled elections in late February, Strassers was removed from power
             in a bloodless coup by his defense minister, Brigadier Julius Maada Bio. Bio pledged to hold free
             elections as planned, but insisted that an end to Sierra Leone's devastating five-year-long civil war
             was necessary for a successful transfer to civilian rule. The elections were held on February 26 and
             27. In a runoff vote, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP was elected president. (Conteh-Morgan,
             Kabbah served as president until May 1997, when he was ousted in yet another military coup.
             The military junta, an alliance of disillusioned junior army officers, escaped prisoners, and
             members of the RUF, faced immediate international condemnation and economic sanctions.
             Nigerian troops taking part in a peacekeeping force in neighboring Liberia quickly responded by
             mounting an offensive against rebel forces. In February 1998 the Nigerian force secured the Sierra
             Leonean capital of Freetown. In March, Kabbah returned to office from exile i
             ...