800 french troops despathed to CAR ( Archived) (22)

France says Central African Republic capital 'calm' as UK flies in military kit

About 600 French troops dispatched to CAR, with Paris stressing importance of clamping down on religious reprisals

After outbreaks of violence and killings in the Central African Republic, French forces patrolling the capital, Bangui, said calm had been restored on Friday morning.

Around 600 French troops have been dispatched to the CAR to boost African Union forces already in situ. A further 400 are expected to arrive on Friday evening and a further 200 over the weekend.

Jean-Yves Le Drian, France's defence minister, confirmed that a detachment of helicopters had been deployed from Gabon.

"French forces have been carrying out patrols in Bangui and it was calm overnight," Le Drian told journalists in Paris.

He said that to secure the city, peacekeeping troops had to "disarm and confine" those responsible for the violence. He said the armed groups were "hard to identify" and that various groups emerged from "moment to moment".

"People are mixed up with this or that group and we don't know their origin," he said, adding that the motivations for the violence were "sometimes political" but appeared mostly to be "gratuitous violence".

He also said it was important to clamp down on the religious reprisals that had broken out in the past few days.

Later, a spokesman for the French defence ministry said Operation Sangaris – named after an exotic red butterfly – was aimed at supporting African forces to make the CAR secure and stemming the violence to allow humanitarian teams to get in and work safely.

He admitted Paris had been forced to bring forward its deployment after a sudden outbreak of killings and extreme violence, much of it against women and children, earlier this week.

"We had been planning to be ready this weekend, but we had to bring forward our actions," he said.

"We are also securing a number of hotspots and are there to protect French and European citizens."

An estimated 300 French nationals are believed to have remained in the CAR.

The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution authorizing military action in the Central African Republic. France responded by saying it would send more troops to restore security and protect civilians "within days."

The 15-member council adopted the resolution allowing French and African Union troops to use force if necessary to protect civilian lives in the country.

Members of the council also asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to set up an inquiry into human rights abuses in the Central African Republic.

The UN reached the decision after armed clashes in the capital Bangui on Thursday resulted in numerous casualties.

It was the most significant attack inside the capital since the Seleka rebel coalition seized power in March.

Included in the resolution is a mandate for 3,600 African and 1,200 French troops to be deployed to contain the violence.

Within hours of the UN decision, France said it would double the number of troops in the country "within a few days, even a few hours."

French President Francois Hollande said he had "decided to act immediately" following a day of violence.

Months of unrest

The Central African Republic, a country of 4.6 million people, has seen months of unrest since rebels toppled former President Francois Bozize in March.

The country's interim President Michel Djotodia, the former rebel leader, is accused of failing to keep his predominantly Muslim militia under control, allowing them to prey upon the majority Christian population.

Some forces already in place

so what started the violence in the first place?

They were a colony of France, when they got independence the free for all started, the United Nations is trying to sort out out, as far as I can see.

We are only sending in aid as always. There is no way David Cameron will deploy troops to the area.

foreign policies and politics is very confusing to me...so guess it's like maybe a civil war break out?

This may help Sooner.

It's really the French pigeon, but I think the assistance we are giving is justified by our treaty responsibility and next time we might be asking France for assistance. But because of the strategic position of CAR there is no way we should get involved with boots.

ok I understand now! yah sounds like they need lots of help