British army negotiates with West Siders

The British military mission in Sierra Leone says that a senior officer has held meetings with the abductors of eleven British soldiers.

A spokesman said a British colonel Simon Fordham had met one of the leaders of the rebel militia calling itself the West Side Boys.

The spokesman declined to give details of the talks.

The British soldiers who were captured last Friday, were part of a training and advisory team in Sierra Leone.The BBC correspondent in the capital, Freetown, says there is speculation that the West Side Boys want food and medicines.

But our correspondent says the situation may not be a simple question of an exchange of food for hostages, but might also involves local politics.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service