Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). LURD began fighting in Lofa County with the aim of destabilizing the government and gaining control of the local diamond fields, leading to the Second Liberian Civil War. Impact The Liberian civil war was one of Africa's bloodiest. From 1989 to 1996, it claimed the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and further displaced a million others into refugee camps in neighboring countries. Child soldiers were used throughout the war. The civil war claimed the lives of one out of every 17 people in the country, uprooted most of the rest, and destroyed a once-viable economic infrastructure. The strife also spread to Liberia's neighbors. It helped slow democratization in West Africa at the beginning of the 1990s and destabilized a region that already was one of the world's most unsteady. Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War began in 1999 and ended in October 2003, when ECOWAS intervened to stop the rebel siege on Monrovia and exiled Charles Taylor to Nigeria until he was arrested in 2006 and taken to The Hague for his trial. By the conclusion of the final war, more than 250,000 people had been killed and nearly 1 million displaced. Half that number remain to be repatriated in 2005, at the election of Liberia's first democratic President since the initial 1980 coup d'état of Samuel Doe. Former president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who initially was a strong supporter of Charles Taylor, was inaugurated in January 2006 and the National Transitional Government of Liberia terminated its power. Charles Taylor was sentenced to a trial in 2003, after being accused of rape and acts of sexual violence, promoting child soldiers, and an illegal ownership of weapons. He denied these accusations but was eventually testified against by his victims. He was then sentenced to 50 years in prison. Lists Armed groups that participated in the war Armed Forces of Liberia (AFL) Liberia Peace Council (LPC) Lofa Defense Force (LDF) National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) Independent National Patriotic Front of Liberia (INPFL) National Patriotic Front of Liberia-Central Revolutionary Council (NPFL-CRC) United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-Johnson faction (ULIMO-J) United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy-Kromah faction (ULIMO-K) Peace agreements Peace agreements signed included the: Banjul III Agreement (14 October 1990) Bamako Ceasefire Agreement (28 November 1990) Banjul IV Agreement (21 December 1990) Lomé Agreement (13