NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council voted Thursday for French troops to join African peacekeepers in the Central African Republic as gunfire erupted in the capital.
Up to 60 people may have been killed in Bangui in attacks by supporters of former president Francois Bozize, who was forced from office by rebels in March, the BBC reported.
The Security Council resolution also imposed an arms embargo on CAR and asked the United Nations to prepare for the possibility of sending in its own peacekeeping force.
Before the vote, Gerard Araud, France's ambassador to the United Nations, said the infusion of French troops would make a difference "within days."
Related
Gen. Arda Hakouma, a former rebel who now leads the personal detail for Michel Djotodia -- who ousted Bozize then installed himself as the first Muslim president in the Christian-majority country -- said Bozize loyalists had attacked three areas of the capital.
Gunfire was heard only intermittently after it began before dawn.
"There has been gunfire all over town," Amy Martin, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bangui, told the British broadcaster.
Araud told the BBC French and African forces had begun arriving in the Central African Republic and could respond quickly after the U.N. Security Council gave its approval. He said the troops would first restore law and order in Bangui then would secure other main roads in the country.
The African Union has a 2,500-member force in the Central African Republic. The AU force is expected to grow to 3,600 by the end of December.
France has started to increase its military presence in its one-time colony, saying it eventually will deploy about 1,000 extra troops to support the AU force.
The United Nations estimates violence in the African nation has forced about 500,000 people from their homes.
