Efforts were being stepped up yesterday to free the UN forces still held by Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone as hopes grew that the worst of the crisis in the war-torn country was over.
West African military chiefs meeting in Nigeria announced they had decided to strengthen the peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone with 3,000 more troops.
In London, the British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, briefed cabinet colleagues that the rebel forces' advances had been halted and put in reverse.
With the rebel leader, Mr Foday Sankoh, still in captivity, there was increasing confidence that the peace process in the country could be revived.
The commander of the British paras in the country, Lieut Col Paul Gibson, told the BBC there had been a significant change in the situation. He said: "Every day reinforcements are arriving here in Lungi and every day visibly you can see United Nations' troops confidence and professionalism developing.
"What we are seeing across the country is the RUF rebels on the back foot and having to give up a lot of territory that they have previously gained. I think those signs are very encouraging."
The Foreign Office Minister, Mr Peter Hain, added that if the peace deal was revived it would not involve Mr Sankoh.
The Sierra Leone government was yesterday considering whether criminal charges would be pressed against Mr Sankoh, whose RUF killed tens of thousands in nearly nine years of war. The Information Minister, Dr Julius Spencer, also said efforts were continuing to free the remaining UN personnel held in the dense forests of eastern Sierra Leone.
The rebels seized about 500 peacekeepers earlier this month and are believed to be holding about 270.
A group of 80 peacekeepers freed on Wednesday was waiting to be evacuated by helicopter from the Liberian border town of Foya, according to the UN.
Forty-four freed peacekeepers flew into Freetown on Wednesday night.