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EU signs up for military mission in Central Africa

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday it was running out of food for a growing number of homeless people/XINHUA-File

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday it was running out of food for a growing number of homeless people/XINHUA-File

BRUSSELS, Jan 21 – The European Union agreed Monday to send hundreds of troops to the Central African Republic in a rare joint military mission aimed at ending months of sectarian violence.

Saying Europe was “deeply concerned by the extreme insecurity and instability” in the impoverished nation, EU foreign ministers gave “political approval” to the rapid deployment of a force expected to number between 400 and 600.

An EU-UN donors’ conference in Brussels meanwhile gathered $496 million (365 million euros) in pledges this year for the country, where almost one million people, or 20 percent of the population, have been displaced by fighting.

As the European foreign ministers discussed what will be the EU’s first major ground operation in six years, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned the country was in “a crisis of epic proportions” and urged the world “to pull CAR back from the brink of further atrocities”.

“We face a political and humanitarian emergency in the Central African Republic,” said Sweden’s Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. “We clearly need to do something.”

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said Monday it was running out of food for a growing number of homeless people, with the spreading unrest hobbling distribution efforts.

The WFP said 38 trucks carrying rice were stuck at the Cameroon border with the drivers refusing to cross due to the threat of attacks.

“Suspending food distributions could lead to further tension, particularly among the 100,000 displaced people in the overcrowded Bangui airport camp,” the WFP warned.

The military mission is to help establish a safe and secure environment around the capital Bangui, where 1,000 people were reportedly killed last month alone in clashes between Christian and Muslim militias.

It will back up French and African forces and eventually hand over to African or UN peacekeepers after a four- to six-month period.

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Britain, like Germany, has offered logistical support for the French operation but has repeatedly made clear it would not send troops.

New German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised France for dispatching 1,600 troops, saying: “We Europeans and neighbours should be grateful that France worked for avoiding worse incidents so far.”

Ireland’s top diplomat Eamon Gilmore said his country favoured “an intervention with UN support”.

The EU “bridging force” is likely to be asked to protect Bangui’s airport, where about 120,000 people have fled in fear of the inter-communal violence.

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