The Guinea-Bissau Civil War was fought from 7 June 1998 to 10 May 1999 and was triggered by an attempted coup d'état against the government of President João Bernardo Vieira led by Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané. Government forces, backed by neighbouring states, clashed with the coup leaders who had quickly gained almost total control over the country's armed forces. The conflict resulted in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. An eventual peace agreement in November 1998 provided for a national unity government and new elections in the next year. However, a subsequent and brief outbreak of fighting in May 1999 ended with the deposing of Vieira on 10 May 1999 when Vieira signed an unconditional surrender. Pre-conflict tension Guinea-Bissau gained independence from Portugal in 1974 after an eleven and a half year long war of independence. In January 1998, ten fighters from the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MDFC), an insurgent separatist group from the Senegalese region of Casamance, were killed and another forty were arrested following clashes with the armed forces in two towns on the northern border of Guinea-Bissau. The armed forces deployed reinforcements along the border with Casamance to prevent the separatists from entering the country. In late January, following the seizure in Guinea-Bissau of a cache of weapons, a number of officers of the armed forces were arrested on charges of supplying arms to the Casamance separatists. On 30 January 1998, Guinea-Bissau's defense minister announced the suspension of the Chief of Staff of the armed forces, Brigadier-General Ansumane Mané on the grounds of dereliction of duty in view of the fact that the weapons impounded in the previous month had been taken from a military depot of the Guinea-Bissau armed forces. In March 1998, following protest by opposition parties at delays in the organization of legislative elections, an independent national elections commission was established. The elections were due to be held in July. In April, Mané publicly accused the Minister of Defense and a group of officers in the armed forces of involvement in arms trafficking to the Casamance separatists. At the sixth PAIGC congress held May 1998, President João Bernardo Vieira was re-elected president of the party. Coup and civil war (1998–1999) Vieira dismissed the suspended Mané and appointed General Humberto Gomes to replace him on 6 June 1998. On 7 June, rebelling troops led