The authorities say it is to put an end to months of ethnic and sectarian-related violence.

Given the worsening security and humanitarian situation in the Central African Republic, CAR, French authorities on Tuesday, November 26, 2013, announced their intention to intervene militarily to end what has been described in some quarters as genocide in the making.

Radio France Internationale, RFI, reported yesterday, November 27, 2013, that 1,000 troops will be involved in the operation in support of an African Union-led peacekeeping force that is being put in place. The intervention will reportedly consist of operations to secure the capital, Bangui and its suburbs, as well as towns in the northwest in order to ensure access to strategic routes connecting CAR to Cameroon and Chad. Of particular interest will be Ouham and Ouham-Pende Prefectures on the border with Chad where Christians and Moslems had until recently, been living in peace, RFI said.

French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, yesterday announced that 1,000 troops will be sent to CAR to add to the 410 already stationed at the airport in Bangui, the IRIN United Nations news service said. Speaking earlier at a Council of Ministers meeting on November 20, 2013, French President, François Hollande, said: “France is planning to live up to its responsibilities.” The UN Security Council is expected to vote early next month on a motion that allows neighbouring countries, the African Union and France to intervene in CAR.

‘Le Nouvel Observateur’ newspaper cited a French official as saying that the intervention could take place before or after the summit on African security scheduled for France from December 6-7, 2013. Some sources suggest that the intervention has been made the more urgent by information that militant groups like Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, AQMI, might already have set up camps in CAR.