SIERRA LEONE: FREETOWN: Troops Defend President Kabbah

Truckloads of soldiers and militiamen armed with weapons have been speeding towards key towns outside Freetown to defend the embattled government of President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.

Rebels have forced U-N peacekeepers to abandon the town of Waterloo which has now become the frontline and is just 25 kilometres (15 miles) away from the capital.

British paratroopers are continuing stop and search operations of vehicles on the roads into Freetown and have secured the area around the airport so that evacuations of foreign nationals can continue.

Meanwhile another town not far from the capital, Masiaka, is now deserted after a gun battle between suspected rebels and U-N peacekeepers ended when the peacekeepers ran out of ammunition.

On Wednesday truckloads of heavily armed soldiers and militiamen left for Masiaka a little over 70 kilometres (44 miles) from Freetown.

Residents of Masiaka and Waterloo have been pouring into Freetown bringing with them stories of fighting.

With the disappearance of rebel leader Foday Sankoh and with news of the U-N's defeat in Masiaka, the tension in Freetown is rising.

The situation in Sierra Leone became increasingly chaotic when a Nigerian-led regional intervention force pulled out last week.

Since then, clashes have broken out intermittently between U-N peacekeepers and rebels.

Some 500 peacekeepers remain hostages of the rebel Revolutionary United Front and at least one of them is believed to be dead.