Britain to train Sierra Leone army

Sierra Leone army was "ill-disciplined and corrupt"

By Mark Doyle in Freetown

Britain has announced a substantial training programme for the Sierra Leone army to help it face the rebel threat.

The training programme is in addition to the task force of paratroopers and marines already engaged in Sierra Leone, backing and advising the pro-government forces.

A British army spokesman said the task of the training team would be to create a new, effective army to protect the elected government.

The Sierra Leone army has in the past been one of the most ill-disciplined and corrupt military forces in Africa.

Britons will try to help Sierra Leone build a new, effective army

Many of the rebels are in fact members of the army who mutinied against the civilian authorities.

But while the aim of the British team is ambitious most Sierra Leoneans will welcome it.

The people of Freetown in particular are convinced that Britain has saved them from an invasion by the deeply feared rebels. And the additional longer term training for the local army will be applauded.

While the British have stabilised the situation in the capital, the rebels still hold much of the rest of the country.

Today a rebel spokesman told the BBC by telephone from one of the areas that they control that their leader Foday Sankoh, who has been captured, must be released, before substantive peace talks can take place.