THE United Nations hopes to be able to boost its force in Sierra Leone from 10_350 troops to 17_500 within six months, enabling it to push deeper into rebel-held areas. Set up in October 1999 to support a peace agreement which formally ended the nine-year civil war, one of the most brutal in Africa, UNAMSIL is the largest UN peacekeeping mission. But, after a series of humiliating setbacks at the hands of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and the withdrawal of two large battalions of Indian and Jordanian troops, the force remains below its current authorised strength of 12_500. – AFP