Now that the hostage crisis in Sierra Leone appears over, leaders in West Africa say they’ll send in more troops to help UN peacekeepers. The leaders have agreed to offer 3,000 peacekeepers, most of them Nigerian. They would join the 13,000 UN soldiers expected to be in the country by the end of June.

The West African leaders also want the UN to put the entire force under West African command and change its mandate from “peacekeeping” to “peace enforcement.” Rebels in Sierra Leone held up to 500 UN personnel hostage for over three weeks before releasing what was believed to be the last of them yesterday. The rebels have been clashing with pro-government forces.