The UN's representative in Sierra Leone, Francis Okello, says in his latest assessment of the fighting that the whole of the northern half of the country is under rebel control.

President Kabbah will not discuss power shaaring with the rebels

The rebels have caused tens of thousands of people to flee their homes as they try to regain power.

Young boys are reportedly forced to fight or work for the rebels. Women and girls are taken to perform domestic chores and repeatedly gang-raped.

Limbs are cut from people who do not immediately denounce President Kabbah.

"Council members condemn atrocities by rebel forces, assisted by external factors to those rebel forces," said the Security Council President, Jassim Mohammed Buallay of Bahrain.

"They call upon states concerned to take immediate action to cease the interference in Sierra Leone's domestic affairs," he said, in apparent reference to neighbouring Liberia.

Liberia denies involvement

Liberia has been accused of supporting Sierra Leone's renegade soldiers and rebels who forced President Kabbah into exile for 10 months until March when West African troops restored him to power.

Joe Mulbah: "We have sealed our border with Sierra Leone"

Liberia, however, denies the charges. Information Minister Joe Mulbah said his country has no interests in Sierra Leone, although he acknowledged that Liberian nationals could still be operating with the rebels.

"It is likely that some of these beligerent forces may have stayed across in Sierra Leone... But they are not under the control of the administration of President Taylor."

Liberian President Charles Taylor denies supporting the rebels

Mr Mulbah also said that Liberia had called on the United States and the international community to make joint patrols of its the border with Sierra Leone.

Food aid jeopardised

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has also warned that the escalating hostilities could jeopardize relief programs in the country's interior.

Food aid shipments to Makeni and other areas have been halted, affecting feeding and distribution programs for nearly 24,000 people, many of whom are displaced and living in camps and urban areas in the north and the east.

The WFP's Sierra Leone representative, Patrick Buckley, estimates that fighting in the eastern Kono region may have forced as many as 40,000 to flee their homes.