Pro-government forces and United Nations peacekeepers in Sierra Leone rushed to bolster the capital’s defenses today as civilians poured into Freetown ahead of advancing rebels.

Hundreds of British paratroops dug in and were ready to ferry U.N. troops closer to the front. But in London, the government rejected appeals for the evacuation force to join the fight against the rebels in the former British colony.

As a group of Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels was reported to be at Waterloo, only 18 miles from Freetown, the whereabouts of their leader, Foday Sankoh, remained a mystery.

Sankoh was last seen Monday fleeing his Freetown residence after his bodyguards opened fire on a crowd of several thousand peace protesters. We are joined now by Scott Peterson, correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. He has covered conflicts in Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, as well as Iraq and Yugoslavia. His new book is called ??Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda-A Journalist Reports From The Battlefields Of Africa.

Guest:

• Scott Peterson, is a correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and author of the new book ??Me Against My Brother: At War in Somalia, Sudan and Rwanda.

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