By West Africa Correspondent Mark Doyle

West African countries are holding crisis talks on the war in Sierra Leone while an unprecedented rebel military offensive continues against the elected government of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah.

The foreign ministers of at least seven West African countries have been invited to Monday's talks in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, which have been convened in the light of the major rebel offensive.

The fighting last week came near to the capital, Freetown, and led to a Christmas evacuation of some British and other foreign nationals.

Since then the government has brought reinforcements to Freetown and re-established authority there - but the UN says the rebels and the pro-government Nigerian-led intervention force are still fighting for the key northern town of Makeni.

Tthe offensive has shown that repeated government claims to be on the point of ending the rebellion have been over-optimistic, and that the rebels - who are remnants of a military regime toppled earlier this year - are a force to be reckoned with.

Both sides claim to control Makeni, but on the eve of the talks, the UN special representative in Sierra Leone, Francis Okello, said that, as of Sunday, the town was still contested.

The West African countries meeting in Abidjan are mostly sympathetic with the elected Sierra Leone government, as is the rest of the international community.

But the region is concerned that unless the fighting can be stopped, instability could spread.

There are already half-a-million Sierra Leone war refugees scattered throughout the region and many others are internally displaced inside the country.

The rebels have not been invited to the Abidjan meeting, but the prospect of peace talks is bound to come up.