Ceremony Marks End of Civil War

Sierra Leone's government and rebel leaders declared a decade-long civil war over as they watched thousands of weapons burn on a ceremonial bonfire.

Sierra Leone has been torn apart by war since 1991, when rebels of the Revolutionary United Front launched an insurgency to oust the government and take over the nation's lucrative diamond fields.

President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah led the ceremony held just outside the capital, Freetown.

"Today we are happy that those flames of war are being extinguished. I declare the war is over and the curfew lifted," Kabbah said.