The Year in Pictures 2000

May
When Great Britain pulled its combat troops from Sierra Leone in June after nine years of civil war, the ravaged country was left at the mercy of the desperate government on one side and rebels on the other. Assisting the former were the notorious West Side Boys, pictured here patrolling Freetown in June. The Boys used drugs and alcohol to get energized for their sprees of raping, burning and looting their way through the devastated capital.

• Person of the Year 2000: George W. Bush