Tony Blair will be made a tribal chief as part of his controversial African tour.
Prime minister Blair has been criticised for the farewell trip, as two writers from the US magazine Vogue are part of the touring party, as well as documentary television crews.
But he will given a hero's welcome in Sierra Leone and made a 'paramount chief', in recognition of the British role in ending civil war in the country.
In the small Mahera township, 149 of the nation's traditional paramount chiefs will gather to bestow the honorary title upon Mr Blair.
Ibrahim Kamara, a local official, explained the ceremony: "We have nothing, no money to give him but it is a way of recognising him as a chief of our nation. All the paramount chiefs together with the head of state agreed on the gesture. It's the highest traditional honour."
A British injection of 900 troops into the West African nation in May 2000 helped to halt the advance of the barbaric Revolutionary United Front rebels, as well as overseeing an improved training regime for the Sierra Leone army.
Augustus Kamara, a journalist, said: "Tony Blair is a hero. He took a real risk. If intervention had failed it could have been his downfall."
