(9 May 2000) English/Nat
British soldiers have been evacuating foreign nationals from Sierra Leone and have taken control of the international airport there.
Over 300 British, European Union and Commonwealth citizens had been evacuated so far.
The capital Freetown is reported to be calm a day after four people were killed by rebels when an angry crowd threw stones at the house of the rebel leader Foday Sankoh.
British soldiers have now taken control of Sierra Leone's airport as British and European nationals are evacuated to Senegal.
The airport is separated from the capital Freetown by a few kilometres of water and in a few days British naval ships will arrive to wait offshore in case the security situation deteriorates further.
As part of their mission these soldiers have orders to disarm anyone they encounter with a weapon who is not a U-N soldier.
How they do that without being dragged into the civil war is not clear.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We're here to support the UN, our job here, my platoon, is to form a roadblock there to stop people coming in unless they're UN soldiers. If they are armed, if they are armed and they're not UN soldiers then we have to disarm them."
SUPER CAPTION: Lieutenant May, Platoon Commander
On Monday at least four people were killed when rebel soldiers opened fire on rock-throwing demonstrators marching on the home of the rebel leader Foday Sankoh.
Helicopters have been ferrying the evacuees from a hotel in Freetown, which also serves as the U-N peacekeeping headquarters, to the airport.
The United Nations say they have received no reports of violence in Freetown or anywhere else in the country and say they will stay in Sierra Leone.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"...our full military force which will stay here and the mission continues. This morning Mr Adaniji - the special representative of the Secretary General, flew to Abuja in Nigeria where he will take part in a conference of nine countries that will be looking at this crisis.
SUPER CAPTION: David Wimhurst, UN Spokesman
The rebel leader Foday Sankoh is believed to have disappeared from his U-N guard, which has scared civilians in Freetown who fear more violence could be around the corner.
On Monday the United Nations added to the tension by wrongly reporting that rebel fighters were just outside Freetown.
But on Monday night no gunfire was heard in the city and residents said they had seen no unrest on the streets.
On government radio there are statements of support for the U-N, but for the Sierra Leoneans themselves there are unlikely to be any flights to escape from years of civil war.
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