THE last British troops sent in to Sierra Leone six weeks ago to shore up the war-torn country are preparing to return to the UK. In their place, UN troops have taken over security at Freetown’s airport. The British operation, codenamed Operation Palliser, will formally end at midnight on Wednesday. It will hand over to Operation Basilica, with 200 troops from 2nd Anglian Regiment remaining behind to train up 1000 new recruits to the Sierra Leonean Army to fight the rebels of the Revolutionary United Front.