The multiparty democratic constitution of Sierra Leone was again adopted in 1991 by President Joseph Saidu Momoh, Stevens' hand-picked choice. From March 23, 1991 to 2002, a group of former Sierra Leone soldiers launched a brutal civil war in a failed attempt to overthrow the Sierra Leone Government. The APC's 24-year rule of Sierra Leone ended on April 29, 1992 in a military coup and a 25-year-old Captain Valentine Strasser ruled the country from 1992 to 1996 in a junta government.