"Bossangoa, Central African Republic (CNN) -- Months after a coup escalated chaos and violence
in the Central African Republic, a French military operation has begun in the capital, Bangui, France's defense minister said Friday.
More than 100,000 more people are believed to be hiding in the bush around Bossangoa, fearing for their safety.
The French deployment, along with that of African forces, was unanimously approved Thursday by the U.N. Security Council.
The council also voted to impose an arms embargo on the Central African Republic, which is east of Cameroon and north of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Security Council resolution, put forward by France, authorizes an African Union-led peacekeeping force to intervene with the support of French forces to protect civilians, restore humanitarian access and stabilize the country.
France has pledged to send in hundreds more soldiers. An African Union force is already in the nation, but rights group say it's not enough to halt the escalating violence.
UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said Friday that the British military will help fly French military equipment to the Central African Republic.
Thursday, heavy gunfire erupted near the presidential palace in Bangui, witnesses said.
After two days of clashes in the capital, the number of corpses delivered to a hospital morgue in the city rose Friday afternoon to 92, according to Doctors without Borders.
The agency, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, told CNN that 170 people had been treated for injuries. Scores were badly hurt -- most with gunshot, machete or knife wounds.
Violence has raged in the country since a coalition of rebels deposed President Francois Bozize in March, the latest in a series of coups since the nation gained independence. Bozize fled the country after his ouster.
Seleka, the predominantly Muslim coalition behind the president's removal.
Multiple sources told CNN that the military commander of Seleka, Gen. Issa Yahya, was killed Thursday in Bangui. His second-in-command, Col. Saleh Zabari, is now thought to be in charge.
More than 100,000 more people are believed to be hiding in the bush around Bossangoa, fearing for their safety.
More than 400,000 people -- nearly 10% of the population -- have been internally displaced, according to the United Nations.
"They are hiding in the bush without shelter, food, or drinking water, exposed to the weather and mosquitoes that carry malaria, the leading cause of death in the country," Doctors Without Borders said in a statement." CNN
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars:
see that ye be not troubled :
for all these things must come to pass ,
but the end is not yet.
Matthew 24:6
"BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Thousands of Christian civilians sought refuge at an airport guarded by French soldiers Friday, fleeing from the mostly Muslim ex-rebels with machetes and guns who rule the country a day after the worst violence to hit the chaotic capital in nine months.
When several French helicopters landed at the airport, people sang with joy as they banged on plastic buckets and waved rags into the air in celebration.
Outside the barbed wire fences of the airport, bodies lay decomposing along the roads in a capital too dangerous for many to collect the corpses. Thursday's clashes left at least 280 dead, according to national radio, and have raised fears that waves of retaliatory attacks could soon follow." AP
