{{President Francois Hollande flew to Central African Republic on Friday to tell its leaders and French forces stationed there that France will work to stop the country splitting in two.}}
France’s parliament voted on Tuesday to extend the mission, despite tepid popular support at home for a military operation in the former colony where tens of thousands of people have been killed and around a million forced from their homes.
France sent troops four months ago – its force now numbers 2,000 – to the majority Christian country where Muslim Seleka rebels seized power last March and have since been pushed back by Christian “anti-balaka” militia.
Thousands of Muslims have fled northeast from the capital towards the border with Chad, creating a de facto division of the country which the U.N. human rights chief has said now faces “ethnic-religious cleansing”.
“In the east and the north, we need to stop score-settling, establish the authority of government, allow it to engage in dialogue and avoid any temptation to partition the east of the Central African Republic,” Hollande told French soldiers gathered in a helicopter hanger at Bangui airport. He also said French troops would disarm militias and bandits that were “terrorizing the Muslim population”.
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