PARIS – An advance group of French gendarmes from a EU mission to the Central African Republic has been deployed in the capital Bangui, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
The 55 gendarmes from the Eufor-RCA mission are carrying out mixed patrols with troops from France’s “Sangaris’’ mission and CAR’s own police, Col. Gilles Jaron, spokesman for the French armed forces said.
The EU mission aims to bolster some 2,000 French and 6,500 African forces that have been battling to contain months of violence in the former French colony between Muslim and Christian communities.
France is to supply 450 forces to the mission, which struggled to muster troop commitments from other European countries.
The commander of the mission, French General Philippe Ponties, said last week he aimed to have 800 troops from nine countries on the ground by the end of May.
The gendarmes from the Eufor mission, which is restricted to Bangui, are under the orders of France’s four-month-old “Sangaris’’ mission for the moment.
Apart from conducting patrols, they will train local police.
CAR has been in turmoil since the predominantly Muslim Seleka rebel alliance rose up and overthrew then-president Francois Bozize, a Christian, in March 2013.
The rebels sowed a campaign of terror in villages across the country, triggering a cycle of revenge attacks by Christian vigilantes.
Thousands of people have been killed and nearly one million displaced by the conflict.
The UN Security Council is expected to soon approve a fully-fledged peacekeeping force for the country. (dpa/NAN)
