France is planning to send an extra 400 troops to the Central African Republic to try to stop the violence in its former colony.<br /><br />A total of 2,000 French troops will help the African Union force of 5,000.<br /><br />EU diplomats have now indicated that a 1,000-strong European unit – double the number spoken of previously – should be there from March. <br /><br />France has called on other countries to show “increased solidarity” and deploy peacekeepers more quickly.<br /><br />The French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said:<br />“Europe has decided to intervene and, right now as we speak, there is a pooling of forces that is being done and in which we ask each country how many troops or what kind of support it can bring.”<br /><br />The announcement comes in the week the UN warned of “ethnic cleansing” after peacekeepers found over a dozen bodies in a mass grave at a military camp occupied by Seleka rebels in Bangui.<br /><br />The European force will focus on securing the capital’s airport, where tens of thousands of refugees have taken shelter.<br /><br />Five EU countries (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Portugal and Romania) as well as Georgia are said to have pledged a “substantial” contribution to the European force while others have offered logistical support.<br /><br />Britain – which has already offered logistical support to France – has welcomed the EU’s announcement of the military operation to secure the Bangui area, but says it will not be providing combat troops.
