US, UN in dispute on increasing Sierra Leone force

"We are not happy with the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone(UNAMSIL) right now. It has not done a good job," he said.

"There was a consensus in the room that the job they had donewas inadequate to their mission for very many reasons and that we have to redouble our efforts to find a solution to these problems," Holbrooke added.

Some 500 U.N. troops, sent to monitor a peace agreement thatwas to have ended the country’s civil war, which started in 1991, were held hostage in May and June. Another 233 are still surrounded by rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF).

Diplomats said Holbrooke disagreed with an increase of 3,000to 16,500 for the peacekeepers, which the United Nations had proposed and Britain has embedded in a resolution submitted to the council two weeks ago.

Instead Holbrooke told Hedi Annabi, the assistantsecretary-general for peacekeeping, that he wanted an assessment of what would be required for U.N. troops to wrest diamond-mining areas from the RUF, the diplomats said.

This would probably require a more robust mandate and perhapseven larger numbers in the future.

Annabi argued that the increase was necessary to deploy unitsin credible numbers to guard against the kidnappings, the envoys said.

He said U.N. officials were improving the command and controlstructure of the force as well as gaps in equipment, such as communications, which have been a constant complaint.

Stewart Eldon of Britain, the former colonial power, wasreported to have said that a failure to increase UNAMSIL would impair its ability to carry out its tasks in the existing mandate, which he said was sufficient for the time being.

The Security Council last week adopted a ban on diamond sales,which the rebels use to buy guns, and had intended to review an increase in troops, which requires consultation with Congress before the United States can vote.

A third resolution, to be drafted by Washington, would devisethe type of court to try RUF leader Foday Sankoh, who was captured by pro-government forces after gunmen protecting him in Freetown fired into a crowd, killing 19 people.

Holbrooke said Sankoh should be tried under internationalauspices but without setting up a new U.N. war crimes tribunal, such as the council did for the Balkans and Rwanda.

"They are expensive, they are time-consuming and they move tooslowly," he said. "We are micro-calibrating that issue in ways that I will leave to the lawyers."

The Sierra Leone government has proposed a court similar tothe one being created for Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge, with a mix of local and foreign prosecutors and judges. But diplomats said the United States fears Sierra Leone’s Judicial system is too weak.