British officials say that as chairman of the Sierra Leone contact group, Britain is due to make a statement today on efforts to help reconstruction in the West African country.

The move follows a contact group conference in London at which the United States, the Netherlands and Japan were among those joining Britain to offer financial support to the West African peace-keeping force known as ECOMOG.

The conference came as a court in Sierra Leone jailed the former president, Joseph Momoh, in connection with the overthrow of the elected government in May last year.

The court also sentenced fifteen civilians to hang for treason.

At the London conference, the British Foreign office minister, Tony Lloyd, repeated to Sierra Leone's foreign minister, James Jonah, London's opposition to the death penalty