They said they were grateful to Britain and that they accepted Mr Cook's reassurance of a long-term commitment to Sierra Leone. However, many observers believe the British pull-out would not only prompt an offensive by the rebels but would also bring about the collapse of Mr Kabbah's government.The West Side Boys, part of Mr Koroma's forces, have been seizing weapons from the Sierra Leone army and secreting them at their base in the Occra hills, 30 miles from Freetown. Yesterday four leaders of the West Side Boys, including their commander, who goes by the name of Bomblast, and one of his chief lieutenants, High Five, were arrested after a firefight at the capital. Mr Koroma said he had not authorised the seizing of the Sierra Leone army weapons.Up to 500 RUF members have offered to give themselves up to the British military. They relayed their intentions to a Marine contingent at Mahere, near Lungi Airport. A Sierra Leone government source said: "This shows the value of having British troops here."Memuna Mansaray was taken by Mr Kabbah to peace talks in Lomé, Togo, which led to the agreement last year that was supposed to end Sierra Leone's war.
The child was meant to symbolise hope for the future arriving from the tragedies of the past. But the Lomé accord is dead and the RUF is threatening to revisit its vengeance on Freetown.. Dixons, the retailer, gave a vote of confidence in Sir Alan Sugar's poorly received e-mail telephone venture yesterday, taking a 20 per cent stake in the Amstrad subsidiary that makes it. Dixons, the retailer, gave a vote of confidence in Sir Alan Sugar's poorly received e-mail telephone venture yesterday, taking a 20 per cent stake in the Amstrad subsidiary that makes it. Amstrad saw its shares dive nearly 20 per cent last March when it unveiled the product, the e mailer, which enables consumers to send e-mail through a fixed-line phone. The company had been promising a revolutionary product for months, and investors were disappointed by it.
Analysts said British Telecom had already put a similar product on the market.News of yesterday's deal pushed Amstrad shares 34.5p higher to 259p - the stock was trading at 607.5p before the launch of the e-m iler. Dixons, which closed up 2.5p to 327p, said the move was its first investment in an electronics manufacturer.For its 20 per cent stake in Amserve, the subsidiary that makes the phone, Dixons will pay £3m in cash to Amstrad and will spend a further £12m to promote the product through advertising and sales support in its 1,000 stores.The e-m iler sells for £79.99, but costs considerably more to produce The company has a revenue-sharing deal with BT. Users have to pay13p for every e-mail message sent on the device and 13p to look up messages received. Amstrad also hopes to earn revenue from advertising on the phone's screen.The product is aimed at less technically-minded consumers. Yesterday, Amstrad said that consumers had warmed to the phone, but it would not release any sales figures.Sir Alan Sugar, chairman, said: "The demand for the e-m iler compares with that created by the Amstrad word processor [launched in 1985], which also brought affordable technology to the mass market at exactly the right time."One analyst said: "Until I see the {sales] figures I will remain sceptical. To be fair, technologists tend to be sniffy about any Alan Sugar product.".
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