UN chief Kofi Annan has asked the security council to raise the number of peacekeeping troops in troubled Sierra Leone to 10000 to make up for the departure of Nigerian soldiers. The UN force, Unamsil, has deployed 6000 troops in the country to enforce peace accords signed in July to bring an end to its bloody nine-year civil war. Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he intends to gradually reduce his troops in Sierra Leone beginning in February.