'Sierra Leone troops should stay'

The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, says the UN's peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone should stay for another six months.

The current mandate for the peacekeepers ends next week, but in a report to the UN Security Council, Mr Annan says the situation in the west African nation remains dangerous and volatile, and the presence of the thirteen-thousand-strong force is still indispensable.

Mr Annan is also recommending an increase in the number of peacekeepers.

Correspondents say the Security Council is initially likely to approve a shorter extension. On Tuesday, Council members studied a British draft resolution which would extend the troops' mandate for either twenty-four or forty-five days.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service