The Taliban hang ex-president Najibullah and his brother at Kabul's major traffic intersection

Thousands of Shia Muslims are massacred by the Taliban in Mazar-e-Sharif, in a brief spell before they are driven from the city

Fifteen years after the Falklands War there are 1700 British troops in the islands, guarding 2200 residents

Civil war breaks out again in the Congo, after a Tutsi uprising against Laurent Kabila's government

Bitter and devastating warfare breaks out again between Eritrea and Ethiopia as the result of a border dispute

Neighbouring African nations, with an interest in Congo's mineral wealth, take part on both sides in a developing civil war

The Taliban recapture Mazar-e-Sharif, giving them control of 90% of Afghanistan

US cruise missiles attack al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical factory in Khartoum

Civil war begins in Kosovo with a guerrilla campaign by Albanians in the Kosovo Liberation Army

Steps are taken to end Sudan's fifteen-year civil war, with an undated government promise of a referendum in the south

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the new president of Algeria, reveals that as many as 100,000 people have died in seven years of civil war and massacre

UNITA's widespread advance in Angola's long civil war brings terror and starvation

NATO peacekeepers enter Kosovo after Milosevic agrees to withdraw Serb troops

A peace plan signed in Lusaka brings to an end eleven months of renewed civil war in the Congo

The UN commits 6000 troops to a peace-keeping role in war-torn Sierra Leone

Israel completes the withdrawal of its troops from southern Lebanon

Suicide bombers kill 17 crew members of the destroyer USS Cole in Aden harbour

US and UK forces launch military action against Taliban and al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan

The Northern Alliance, the army of the Afghan resistance to the Taliban, drives the Taliban from Kabul

A month after the fall of Kabul, the Northern Alliance drives the Taliban from their power base in Kandahar

The death of Jonas Savimbi is soon followed by the disbanding of UNITA and the end of 27 years of Angolan civil war

The US-led invasion of Afghanistan sweeps the Taliban from power, ending their protection of al-Qaeda

In spite of a massive military operation, the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden escapes US pursuit in Afghanistan

Civil war breaks out in the Darfur region of the Sudan, resulting in large numbers of civilian deaths and accusations of government-sponsored genocide

US, British, Australian and Polish forces invade Iraq