war in neighbouring Liberia played an undeniable role in the outbreak of fighting in Sierra Leone. Charles Taylor—leader of the National Patriotic Front of Liberia—reportedly helped form the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) under the command of former Sierra Leonean army corporal Foday Sankoh, a critic of both the Stevens and Momoh administrations. Sankoh had been an ally of Brigadier General Bangura and was among those who mutinied following Bangura's execution. Sankoh was British-trained and had undergone guerrilla training in Libya. Taylor's aim was for the RUF to attack the bases of Nigerian-dominated peacekeeping troops in Sierra Leone who were opposed to his rebel movement in Liberia. Sankoh's RUF rebels entered the country in March 1991, and within a month controlled much of Eastern Sierra Leone, including the diamond-mining area in Kono District. The government of Sierra Leone, overwhelmed by a crumbling economy and corruption, was unable to mount significant resistance. At this time, the Momoh government was crumbling. Several senior government officials had resigned to form opposition parties, while there were suspicions that President Momoh was not serious about political reform. Abuses of power had continued and the APC was alleged to have been hoarding arms and planning a violent campaign against the opposition parties ahead of multi-party general elections scheduled for late 1992. The state had been unable to play civil servants, leading to the looting of government property and a population of aimless youth when schools were closed. NPRC Junta (1992–1996) On 29 April 1992, twenty-five-year-old Captain Valentine Strasser led a group of young Sierra Leone Army officers—including Lieutenant Sahr Sandy, Seargent Solomon Musa, Lieutenant Tom Nyuma, Captain Komba Mondeh, Captain Julius Maada Bio and Captain Komba Kambo—from their barracks in Kailahun District and launched a military coup in Freetown, which sent President Momoh into exile in Guinea. The young soldiers established the National Provisional Ruling Council (NPRC) with Strasser as its chairman and Head of State of the country. Captain Solomon Musa, a close friend of Strasser and one of the leaders of the coup, became the deputy leader of the NPRC Junta. The coup was largely popular because it promised to bring peace, but the NPRC Junta immediately suspended the constitution, banned all political parties, limited freedom of speech and freedom of the press and enacted a rule-by-decree policy, in which soldiers were granted unlimited powers of administrative detention without charge or trial. The NPRC established