Reports from Sierra Leone say 83 rebels from the Revolutionary United Front were killed at the weekend in a battle with troops from the West African intervention force, ECOMOG, in the eastern diamond district of Kono.

The clash occurred after a number of civilians in the town of Tobodu were killed by the rebels.

Last week the leader of the RUF, Foday Sankoh, was sentenced to death for supporting the military junta that overthrew the president, Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, in 1997.