The United Nations has warned that it is prepared for what it describes as a "pitched battle" to defend the capital of Sierra Leone, Freetown. Earlier today, Britain rejected calls from Sierra Leone to send combat troops to aid the peacekeeping efforts in the former colony.
West African leaders meeting in Nigeria warned earlier that they would use all means at their disposal, including military force, to stop any attempt by rebels to seize power in Sierra Leone. The warning was the sternest yet to the Revolutionary United Front, who have taken hundreds of United Nations peacekeepers hostage in areas of the country that they control.
After the emergency summit, a spokesman for the 9 countries said that they wanted the mandate for the United Nations force in Sierra Leone to be changed from peacekeeping to the imposition of peace. Failing this, he said that they were ready to re-deploy their own Nigerian-led force to do so.
In the meantime, Russia may airlift some Indian or Jordanian troops waiting to bolster the 8,700-member UN peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone, after the United States agreed to ferry in a battalion from Bangladesh, according to a UN spokesman. The UN force, some 500 of whose troops are being held by rebels in the West African country, is trying to build rapidly to an authorised strength of 11,100.
The UN Secretary General has consulted with a number of governments on the prospect of a rapid reaction force. A UN spokesperson, Fred Eckhard, has said that "so far (there are) no offers." Kofi Annan has appealed several times to the five permanent Security Council members, the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China. They have all turned down his requests.
