Britain, Nigeria discuss Sierra Leone crisis

The British chief of defence staff has been holding talks with senior Nigerian officials amid continuing efforts to boost the troubled United Nations peace-keeping mission in Sierra Leone.

Speaking after talks with General Sir Charles Guthrie, the Nigerian Vice-President, Atiku Abubaker, said Nigeria was ready, as he put it, to come to the rescue of the UN force in Sierra Leone.

But he repeated that if Nigeria was to send more troops, the UN would have to meet the cost.

Nigeria already has four battalions of troops serving in the UN force with two more committed.

It led the West African intervention force in Sierra Leone's civil war, handing over to the UN force just before the present crisis began with rebel advances and the capture of five-hundred UN peacekeepers.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service