France intervenes to quell violence in Central African Republic

The UN-sanctioned military operation will put 1,200 troops on the ground by the weekend, and follows months of clashes in the increasingly unstable country. 

|
Emmanuel Braun/REUTERS
French troops patrol in an armored vehicle in Bangui, Central African Republic, December 6, 2013. France launched its second major African intervention in a year on Friday as its troops rushed to the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, to stem violence that already claimed over 100 lives this week.
  • A daily roundup on terrorism and security issues.

In its second major African intervention this year, France has launched a military operation to stem violence in the Central African Republic, France’s Defense Minister said today.

The operation started hours after the United Nations Security Council approved a French-sponsored resolution allowing for the use of military force to subdue ethnic violence in the landlocked African nation, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told Radio France Internationale, according to the Associated Press.

At least 50 people were killed Thursday in fighting in the capital city of Bangui between rebels now running the country –the majority of whom are Muslim - and opposition groups who are mainly Christian, according to The Wall Street Journal. This follows months of growing clashes and lawlessness after rebel groups toppled former president François Bozizé in April.

France, which already has about 600 troops on the ground, plans on doubling its forces to 1,200 troops by this weekend. The UN resolution also approved the use of forces from MISCA, an African multinational force.

“Today, France is called upon to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe,” French President François Hollande said in a television address Thursday.

France had been considering increasing the number of its troops in the Central African Republic since at least late November, when The Christian Science Monitor reported that France planned on tripling its forces in the nation.

Tension in the Central African Republic has been building for years, as the Monitor explained in November:

For years the government has been challenged by a hodgepodge of three rebel factions called Séléka that have independently been in revolt. The Séléka alliance was born from the frustration in the majority Muslim north of being marginalized by a Christian-dominated government that failed to deliver on promises of development. 

Following a three-month advance from Séléka’s stronghold in the north to the capital of Bangui, rebel leader Michel Djotodia named himself president in April in what has been described as a coup.

The country, or CAR as it is often known, has since been in a state of lawlessness. Armed militia groups trawl through villages and towns pillaging, killing and burning homes to the ground.

While the conflict was not originally religious in nature, “Since the movement took over, ethnic and religious cleavages between the CAR’s Muslim minority and the Christian majority have amplified,” Monitor correspondent Gillian Parker reported. “... fear and mistrust have proliferated as communities seek to protect themselves. The impunity of attacks by former rebels has triggered the emergence of Christian vigilante militias collectively known as “anti-balaka” (anti-machete).”

France’s Central African Republic operation follows its January intervention in Mali, when it responded to the request of the Mali government to help drive out Al Qaeda linked militants who had taken over northern Mali.

The French public widely supported the intervention, and it was seen as President Hollande’s most successful decision in 18 months as president, but after two French journalists were killed last month, the French public is beginning to wonder how long France will stay involved, the Monitor’s Paris bureau chief reported last month. France still has about 2,800 troops in Mali.

France also has to grapple with how its colonial past affects its relationship with Africa today. The Associated Press notes:

France has long served as Africa’s policeman, sending troops in regularly — and often meddling behind the scenes — to keep the peace and secure its interests on a continent where it was once a major colonial power. In more recent years, as it comes to terms with that colonial past, France has tried to forge a different, more equal relationship, focusing on trade.

But it remains a dominant military force for Africa, training African troops and responding to calls from African leaders themselves to help quell conflicts.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to France intervenes to quell violence in Central African Republic
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/terrorism-security/2013/1206/France-intervenes-to-quell-violence-in-Central-African-Republic
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe