The Anglican Bishop of Freetown, Sierra Leone, the Rt Revd Julius Lynch, has called on the British government to press the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force to help secure the future of his country.

Welcoming the accord signed this week in Lome, capital of Togo, Lynch said, "I have always said that the only salvation for Sierra Leone lies with the ability of the West influencing the United Nations to station a meaningful force inside the country, to serve as monitors to see that all the factions keep their own part of the bargain."

He said it was essential that the Lome accord had teeth. "There have been two accords signed previously. Each time there was great jubilation, but then the rebels turned around and said 'This is not what we meant and we're not going to keep to it'." Currently the cease-fire is being monitored by a small international group of about 25 people. "That is not a meaningful force," Lynch declared. "We want to see that this force is increased in its size and in the mandate it has."

Lynch hoped Britain would put its weight behind his call. "They cannot see their former colony disintegrate just like that." Likewise he hoped the United States would "help us to let the world understand that democracy is always better than despotism or totalitarianism."

He was confident the rebels would lay down their arms, "if the process is properly organised". He believed the will to bring peace was there too. "I'm sure the willingness is there because this time they signed in the presence of certain heads of state - the UN was there, a British presence was there, and so were the presidents of Burkina Faso, Togo, Liberia and Nigeria."