Sierra Leone returned to a democratically elected government when the military junta under Brigadier Julius Maada Bio handed the presidency to Ahmad Tejan Kabbah of the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) after his victory in the 1996 election. However, the Sierra Leone military overthrew President Kabbah in a coup on May 25, 1997, A coalition of West African ECOWAS armed forces led by Nigeria reinstated President Kabbah in February 1998. In January 2002, President Kabbah officially announced the end of the civil war. Sierra Leone has had uninterrupted democratic government from 1998 to the present day.