MORE than 3 000 Pakistani blue helmets have arrived in Sierra Leone and a further 1 300 are expected by the end of the month, a Pakistani military official said on UN radio on Monday. The official said the troops who had already arrived included an artillery regiment, engineers and logistics units as well as signals corps. United Nations peacekeepers are deploying in the diamond-rich eastern region of Kono, a former stronghold of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels. The Pakistani reinforcement will permit the UN mission in Sierra Leone, Unamsil, to reach the 17 500-level authorized by the UN Security Council on March 30. The reinforcement should also allow the UN force embarrassed last year when the rebels took peacekeepers hostage to deploy in other zones controlled by the rebels. – AFP