U.N. Vows More Effort to Free Peacekeepers

United Nations officials said they would step up efforts today to find hundreds of peacekeepers taken hostage or missing in Sierra Leone after the threat of a rebel attack on the capital appeared to recede.

The first British paratroops, meanwhile, were due later in the day in neighboring Senegal after Britain’s decision Sunday to send five warships and about 1,600 soldiers to West Africa to help any of its citizens who may need to be airlifted out.

Bernard Miyet, U.N. undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, was expected to arrive in Freetown on Tuesday, spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York.

The U.N. Security Council was briefed on the crisis in a special closed-door session Sunday but issued no statement.

Up to 500 peacekeepers are thought to be in the hands of Revolutionary United Front rebels after clashes in various parts of the country during the week. One peacekeeper, a Kenyan, has been killed and another is missing, presumed dead.

RUF leader Foday Sankoh said he has told his rebels to release the captured U.N. troops. The United Nations has blamed Sankoh for their plight.

The U.N. special representative for Sierra Leone, Oluyemi Adeniji, told reporters in Freetown on Sunday night that a joint RUF-U.N. mission would go today to areas where the peacekeepers were believed to be held to try to negotiate their release.

“If they are there, we will ask for the prisoners to be released,” Adeniji said.

Meanwhile, rebels told reporters in Lunsar, about 50 miles east of Freetown, that they had no intention of attacking the capital.

The U.N. had mistakenly reported over the weekend that rebels were within 12 miles of Freetown after fighting with peacekeepers in the interior. The report caused panic among residents until U.N. officials retracted it.

Washington warned Americans to keep out of Sierra Leone.