Release 'soon' for captive soldiers

British troops were captured while on patrol

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he expects the 11 British soldiers kidnapped by the rebel group the West Side Boys to be released "in the near future".

The UN is assisting British and Sierra Leonean authorities negotiate with the captors.

The British commander in Sierra Leone says the hostages are being well treated.

Brigadier Gordon Hughes says he has made contact with his men and the kidnappers, and he was hopeful that dialogue would end the crisis.

The 11 members of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR), together with a soldier from Sierra Leone, were kidnapped on Friday outside the capital, Freetown.

Eight of the hostages are from Northern Ireland, two from the Republic of Ireland and one from Merseyside.

UK Armed Forces Minister John Spellar said there were grounds for optimism that the soldiers would be released soon.

"We also had a situation last year when five British officers working with the United Nations were captured in Sierra Leone and that was resolved peacefully," he said.

The soldiers are being held in a remote jungle region, and there have been heavy tropical rain storms in the last two days.

'Mission creep'

A spokesman for Britain's Conservative opposition accused the government of "mission creep" - that is, allowing the British presence in Sierra Leone to move beyond its original mandate.

British forces arrived to bolster the peacekeeping mission

"They have got themselves into the position where British troops are now held hostage by a group of people whose allegiance we really don't know at this stage," shadow defence secretary Iain Duncan Smith told the BBC.

Maverick group

Government officials in Sierra Leone say the rebels have made a number of demands including food, medicine and the release of one of their leaders from prison.

The West Side Boys are a maverick group unconnected to the main rebel group in Sierra Leone, the Revolutionary United Front.

The prisoner being demanded by the rebels is known variously as Bomb Blast or General Papa and has been detained in Freetown's central prison for almost two months.

"Bomb Blast" is reputed to be the leader of the West Side Boys.

The gang members are known for wearing bizarre clothing and being almost perpetually drunk.

But they reputedly use their guns without hesitation, and command fear in the areas which they control.

They swear allegiance to the former military regime led by Johnny-Paul Koroma - even though Mr Koroma has since transferred his loyalties to Sierra Leone's incumbent civilian government.

Soldiers 'unharmed'

Commander of the RIR deployment in Sierra Leone, Brigadier Gordon Hughes, said the soldiers were unharmed.

"They have been given food, water, shelter, and they are generally being well treated.

"Suffice to say that the situation in the area is now stable, it is calm, we are talking to representatives of the group."

British troops were sent into the country in May to evacuate foreign nationals and secure Freetown as rebel forces advanced on the capital.

Although the bulk of the forces withdrew weeks later, the captured men are part of a team of over 200 British troops who remained behind to train and advise the army of the elected Sierra Leone Government.