The commander of the African Intervention Force in Sierra Leone, which is trying to persuade the military government there to hand back power to civilians after it mounted a coup d'etat last May, says he expects to get orders to deploy 15,000 men in the next few days. The commander, Major General Victor Malu, from the West African regional giant, Nigeria, was speaking to the BBC in his current regional base, Liberia. From the Liberian capital, Monrovia, our West Africa correspondent, Mark Doyle, reports.

The decision to deploy African peace-keeping troops in Sierra Leone was taken last year at meetings which included the diplomatically isolated Sierra Leone military regime. But since that time, the regime has set various conditions for the deployment, which the outside world has largely seen as stalling tactics, designed to postpone a return to civilian rule.

Now, the commander of the regional African Intervention Force, which is dominated by Nigeria, has revealed his hand. He says he expects a political decision from West African heads of state in the next few days that will allow him to deploy some 10,000 troops in addition to the roughly 5,000 that already hold Sierra Leone's international airport and one other location.

He said the new troops would deploy with or without the consent of the Sierra Leone military and, if necessary, by force of arms. General Malu himself is unlikely to command the deployment as he is being replaced in a few days' time by another Nigerian general.

The African troops deployed in Sierra Leone have a mandate from African governments to disarm all factions and return Sierra Leone to civilian rule. Major General Malu's statement about deploying in Sierra Leone should be considered as more than mere sabre-rattling.

The Sierra Leone military government mounted its coup d'etat at a time when coups were becoming unfashionable in the eyes of African governments. Perhaps more importantly, however, the junior officers who mounted the coup effectively challenged Nigeria's hegemony in the West African region.