It is a loss to see Indian troops leaving Sierra Leone — Miyet

India announced this week that it intended to withdraw its 3,059 troops, who make up almost one-quarter of the forces deployed strength of 12,447.

Miyet, under-secretary-general in the department of peacekeeping operations, told a news conference here that the chain of command in the civil war torn country must be shaken up because officers had been psychologically "burned" and morale was low.

The pressure had been particularly strong on the force commander Major General Vijay Jetley of India.

Earlier this month, Nigeria had demanded Jetley’s dismissal over a leaked memo in which he accused Nigerian political and military officials in the UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) of colluding with rebel forces.

Speaking with unusual frankness, Miyet said the force had been beset by "problems of pride and political difficulties."

There was a "need for a shakeup because people have been burned by this crisis," he said.

"If you had seen what has been psychologically the pressure on everyone, and in particular on General Jetley….," Miyet said adding "if you want to create a new sense of solidarity, cohesiveness, team spirit, it’s important to have changes at a very high level".

"Part of what we have to do very quickly is the replacement of the existing troops, in order to maintain the capacity that we have now, then go to the second step of 20,500," he said.

Miyet said Jetley’s memo had been "written in a period of very high tensions within the mission."

"We have no information of any kind substantiating this information," he said and added "We have never seen any element of proof and he never provided us with any element of proof to substantiate" his allegations.

But Miyet stopped short of saying that Jetley’s claims were untrue.

"We will discuss with him on these specifics, so I cannot respond at this point," Miyet said.

Asked if the next force commander would be Nigerian, he replied" "It is, for the time being, not anticipated like that."