It is a "certainty" that the United Nations peacekeeping force in Sierra Leone will stay for an extra six months, a UN spokesperson has told BBC News Online.

"We do expect that the extension will be agreed," Margaret Novicki spokesperson for the UN force (Unamsil) said.

The UN helps maintain order in Sierra Leone

On Monday President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah asked the UN to extend the stay of the force.

The UN has 17,000 peacekeepers in Sierra Leone - the largest such force in the world - and their mandate is due to expire on 30 September.

They played a major role, along with British forces, in ending the 10-year civil war and bringing stability, which enabled elections to be held in May.

As part of the peace process, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been establish to investigate war crimes.

Angry amputees

But on Monday, representatives of the Sierra Leoneans mutilated during the war said they would refuse to testify unless they are granted pensions.

The war in Sierra Leone developed from the country's involvement in the Liberian civil war.

President Kabbah says Sierra Leone is at a critical point

President Kabbah, who was re-elected in May, has written to UN secretary general Kofi Annan, asking for the force's mandate to be extended because of the danger posed by continuing fighting in neighbouring Liberia.

Ms Novicki, speaking from Freetown, said that the mandate would normally be renewed for six months and it was a certainty that this would happen because of the need to support the "fragile peace" in Sierra Leone.

In his letter, Mr Kabbah said Sierra Leone was "at a critical juncture" because of the threat of destabilisation in the border areas.

Kidnapped

The UN force spokesperson, Margaret Novicki, told the BBC that there was a danger to peace in Sierra Leone from Liberia.

A number of attacks across the border, the most recent about a month ago, have resulted in looting by both Liberian army and rebel units of Sierra Leonean villages.

Generations were mutilated in the war

A number of Sierra Leoneans have been kidnapped in these attacks to act as porters for the Liberians, and 16 were still unaccounted for, she said.

In addition, 32,000 Liberians refugees had entered Sierra Leone in recent months to escape the fighting in Liberia.

This was putting pressure on the ability of the Sierra Leone Government and the aid agencies to cope with the refugees.

As well as the 17,000 UN troops in Sierra Leone, Britain still has 380 soldiers in the country assisting the government.

The British Ministry of Defence told BBC News Online that they were there mainly in a training capacity.

Rice for life

Foremost among the atrocities of the conflict is the mutilation of tens of thousands of people, who had their limbs hacked off.

A spokesman for the amputees said on Monday that they would refuse to testify before the commission unless the government agreed to pay them lifelong pensions and give them other benefits.

Lamin Jusu Jarka said that the amputees wanted a bag of rice and 200,000 leones ($100) a month for life or "no amputee will give testimony", he told the French news agency AFP.

They are also calling for free education for their children.

The War Affected Amputee Association in Sierra Leone has called on the country's vital diamond industry to pay reparations to victims of the war - Mr Jarka says that the diamond industry contributed to "the gross violation of human rights" during the war.