A spokesman for the Nigerian Army in Lagos said 2,000 troops had flown home to a base in southern Nigeria as part of a phased withdrawal from Sierra Leone.

The withdrawal of the Nigerian-led army, Ecomog, which is estimated to number over 10,000 troops, follows a peace agreement between the Sierra Leonean government and the rebels.

This will be welcome news in Nigeria, because the sending of troops abroad has never been popular there.

But most Sierra Leonean civilians will be greatly concerned as it comes at a very sensitive stage in the peace process.

They saw the Nigerians as their saviours.

During the war tens of thousands of people flocked to the safety of areas held by them.

The Sierra Leonean rebels fiercely opposed the Nigerian presence because they backed the elected government in the war.

The rebels inflicted casualties on the Nigerian troops and forced them on the defensive.

Danger left behind

Once the withdrawal of most of the Nigerians is complete - and that could take several months - Sierra Leone will be left with a potentially dangerous array of local forces and a small, unarmed United Nations observer mission whose role is to nurture the peace agreement between the government and the rebels.

However cracks have already started appearing in that agreement.

Some of the rebels have resorted to hostage-taking to press their demands. Last month, one group seized some UN military observers.

They were subsequently released but now, according to a Nigerian military spokesman in Sierra Leone, a rebel unit just outside the capital Freetown has abducted some rival rebel commanders, for as yet unknown reasons.