Freetown, July 25 :     With two successful military operations against Sierra Leonian rebels under his belt, the Indian commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, Major General Vijay K. Jetley, flies to New York City today with the hope that the world body will give him an idea of the 'way ahead'. Jetley described the recent success of Operations Khukri and Thunderbolt by UN peacekeepers in this civil war-wracked West African state as 'a watershed'' and hopes the world community will give him the support he needs. Until Operation Khukri, when a UN air-and-land force comprising largely Indian soldiers and helicopters broke a siege of over 200 Indian troops by guerrillas of the Revolutionary United Front last week, the blue berets had a poor reputation among the locals. Asked what the UN had been doing, a Sierra Leonian airport worker closed his eyes and folded his arms in a caricature of a sleeping man. With Khukri, Unamsil is now being seen as having both the will and way to defeat the rebels. The subsequent Operation Thunderbolt, in which UN rocket-firing helicopters cleared a key road held by another rebel group, the West Side Boys, strengthened this view. 'West Side Boys in Disarray,'' screamed the headlines of Sierra News, a Freetown tabloid. The Indian troops captured a number of weapons from rebels during Khukri, including surface-to-air missiles. As Jetley explained: 'It was probably the first time that anyone had gotten something from the RUF in nine years.'' The rebels have in the past captured piles of weapons from government forces, West African multilateral troops and most recently from a contingent of Zambian UN troops. The Unamsil commander hopes the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, and the Security Council will give him the resources to consolidate his recent successes. Jetley is pleased that Khukri has meant 'more robust rules of engagement'' now exist on the ground and he now has 'considerable latitude'' on the military front. Referring to the two clauses in the UN charter distinguishing between peacekeeping and peace enforcement, Jetley jokes he now operates under 'clause 6.5'. 'But I lack enough troops for far forward action.'' Specifically, he needs more infantry. Unamsil is now 16,500 strong. 'Logically we should be about 21,000 men,'' he says. Arguing that the root cause of the Sierra Leone civil war is its rebel-held diamond fields, Jetley says the 'RUF needs to be kept away from the diamonds''. He stresses that 'a military operation is the one last resort for peacekeepers'. The next few days of debate in New York City will be crucial, he says. There are roughly two schools of thought at the UN. One is that the UN forces should maintain their present momentum. The other school argues, 'Yes, but not just now''. Other observers in Sierra Leone say Washington is dragging its heels over more funding for Unamsil because it would like an embargo on Sierra Leone diamonds to have some effect and because US presidential polls are just round the corner. Jetley has no doubt that UN action in Sierra Leone is necessary. 'Sierra Leone is a test case for peacekeeping, not only in Africa, but also the world. Everyone knows it, including Kofi Annan.' Sierra Leonians have no doubt about this. 'The UN did nothing for so long. Now it is showing some spine,'' said one Freetown resident. Jetley wants to ensure that the new-found optimism in a country gripped by what is almost universally seen as the most brutal, most desolate war in the world today is not allowed to evaporate.