REBEL soldiers in Sierra Leone are isolated in Africa and the world, Mr Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General, said yesterday, holding out the possibility of international military intervention if they do not surrender.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for the coup leaders said they had freed some 300 Nigerian soldiers, captured on Monday to hold as human shields against air raids.
Speaking in London as the French navy evacuated more frightened foreigners from Freetown, Mr Annan said force would be used as "a last resort". He added: "How they expect to survive I do not know."
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, said the coup leaders had no friends outside Sierra Leone and must see that military force might ultimately have to be considered against them.
Nigerian forces, acting under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), began shelling Freetown yesterday after failing to persuade the soldiers who ousted President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah on May 25th to restore him to power.
Nigeria, which has flown more troops and equipment to Free town, insists its mission to restore democracy in Sierra Leone will not be abandoned,
The Nigerian Foreign Minister, Mr Tom Ikimi, said in Harare, where he was attending an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit: "We will continue on the path we have set."
President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, the new OAU chairman, told the closing session of the summit yesterday that Africa would not tolerate military takeovers. His words will not be lost on the Nigerian leader, Gen San Abacha, who himself took power in a coup in 1993.