Sierra Leone wants British to stay

The British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, is in Sierra Leone where he is due to see President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and other local leaders later today .

They are expected to ask him to keep a robust British troop presence in the capital, Freetown.

Britain sent a naval taskforce and more than one-thousand troops to Sierra Leone in May to support the government army and United Nations peacekeepers against rebels who control much of the interior.

Plans have been announced to withdraw most of the British contingent next week.

But with serious clashes continuing in parts of the country, people in Freetown have been organising a petition to ask the British to stay. One focus of fighting has been the town of Lunsar, on the road to the rebel stronghold of Makeni and the diamond fields further east.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service