African Union peacekeeping troops from Chad have clashed with demonstrators in the Central African Republic, near the airport in the capital Bangui.<br /><br />According to protesters, one person was killed but that has not been confirmed. <br /><br />The medical charity Medecins sans Frontières said about 40 people were treated for injuries, most of whom had been slightly hurt in a stampede as people panicked.<br /><br />The clashes are complicating international efforts to calm inter-religious violence in large landlocked state, where France has deployed 1,600 troops to protect civilians.<br /><br />Despite French pleas for the crowd to disperse, many among the capital’s majority Christian population accuse the troops from neighbouring Chad of siding with Muslim rebels.<br /><br />One handwritten banner read “yes to France”, “no” to the Chadian force.<br /><br />The Muslims from Seleka took power in a coup in March, installing their own interim head of state. Chadian peacekeepers were accused of standing aside.<br /><br />In the latest clash witnesses said they reacted to stones being thrown by firing into the air – and the crowd.<br /><br />In other developments, the European Union has banned the export of arms to the Central African Republic and mercenaries from being sent to the country.<br /><br />France says the 28-nation EU will decide next month on a joint operation to help a French military intervention to stabilise the country.
