Nigeria has stopped the withdrawal of its peacekeeping troops from Sierra Leone, where they've helping the United Nations enforce a peace agreement.

About a third of the ten-thousand man force has already been pulled out, but a spokesman said the rest would now stay.

The Nigerians have been in Sierra Leone for several years to protect the government from rebel attack in a civil war that saw tens of thousands of people systematically mutilated and raped.

The BBC West Africa correspondent says the decision will come as a huge relief to the people of Sierra Leone and to the United Nations, which does not have enough troops in the country to maintain the peace agreement.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service