France to act ‘immediately’ in Central African Republic
The French president Francois Hollande announces that an operation to protect civilians in the violence-torn Central African Republic will begin within hours.
Mr Hollande told journalists that the operation would be launched “this evening”, with French troops in neighbouring countries moving in to double the current French force there from 600 to 1,200.
Within hours Justin Forsyth, the chief executive of Save the Children, who is currently in the Central African Republic (CAR), tweeted that he had reports of French troops landing in the capital Bangui:
Reports new French troops already landing in Bangui, hours after UNSC resolution #CentralAfricanRepublic
— Justin Forsyth (@justinforsyth) December 5, 2013
Mr Forsyth, who said he was in a catholic mission in the town of Bouar with the head of the UN and African peacekeepers, said they were all monitoring reports from around the country.
UN resolution
The French president’s order for action came after the United Nations voted to authorise military intervention by French and African troops to try to end the state of near-anarchy in the CAR.
Tete Antonio, the African Union ambassador to the UN said on Thursday: “it is now more urgent than ever that the international community mobilise to confront the situation, both by protecting civilian populations who can’t take it any more, but also by avoiding an abject collapse in the remains of the state structure of the country.”
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The African Union force, known as MISCA, is expected to increase its troop numbers from 2,500 to 3,500.
Worsening situation
Earlier the CAR’s Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye said the situation in Bangui had got a lot worse suring the day, and called on the international community to act as soon as the resolution was adopted. Around 100 people, many of them civilians, were reportedly killed in the capital on Thursday in fighting between rival gunmen.
Alex Thomson blogs from CAR: Bouar hospital and the doctor with 57,000 patients
Speaking in Paris, Mr Tiangaye said that the fighting in Bangui follwed an attempt by supporters of the former President Francoise Bozize to overthrown the transitional government.
International Solidarity
The UN also voted unanimously for an arms embargo in the CAR, and asked that a UN peacekeeping mission should be prepared.
The resolution was welcomed by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who said it gave “African forces and France the power to intervene with humanitarian missions, because there are very serious atrocities being committed in the Central African Republic, and to re-establish security.. and to prepare a political transition.”
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and 53 African nations are due to gather in Paris on Friday for a two-day summit on peace and security in Africa.
Mr Fabius praised the unanimous vote at the UN today, saying it was a “testimony to international solidarity.”
Speaking on Channel 4 News the former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who was also a co-founder of the medical aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres, said that it was not possible to stand by and do nothing.