Charities warning of Sierra Leone crisis

Charities in Aid Plea for Sierra Leone

"We are prepared to consider any proposal as long as it doesn't prop up the military regime. Obviously it is a difficult situation," said a spokesman for the Department of International Development.

The Government gave £12 million in aid to Sierra Leone in the year preceding the military coup, but completely cut off assistance after it.

British workers in the West African country say there are "classic early warning signs" of a crisis. These include thousands of refugees on the move, prices doubling, food shortages and continued fighting between rival factions.

Ten aid agencies have issued a joint call for immediate help with medicine and food to stop conditions worsening. The agencies, including Oxfam, Save the Children and ActionAid, say the world should learn from the disaster in Rwanda, where thousands died and £1.5 billion was spent on the refugee crisis after a failure to take early action.

They want more effort to find a peaceful solution to the political turmoil in Sierra Leone, where a coup in May has thrown the country into chaos.

The Foreign Office is warning Britons not to travel to Sierra Leone because of the dangers.

There are currently estimated to be 50,000 people involved in the fighting and more than 30,000 refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries. There have also been large scale population movements within Sierra Leone itself, with some cities tripling in size.

Prices for vital foods like rice, palm oil and cassava have doubled and traders say commercial food stocks are down to just one month's supply.