A contingent of Rwandan peacekeepers will deploy to the Central African Republic, where nine other peacekeepers have been killed in less than a month.

Assailants armed with heavy weapons attacked the presidential palace and the residence of the Central African Republic’s embattled leader, but were pushed back.

French troops backed by a helicopter traded fire with suspected former rebels today in a neighbourhood rife with sectarian tensions, within hours of the arrival of France’s military chief in the Central African Republic capital.

Thousands of Christians have fled to a Central African Republic airport guarded by French soldiers, seeking refuge from mostly Muslim ex-rebels who rule the country.

French troops have begun military operations in the Central African Republic, trying to quell violence in the capital a day after armed Christian fighters raided Muslim neighbourhoods, leaving nearly 100 people dead.

NEARLY 500,000 people forced to flee their homes, more than 1m in desperate need of food, thousands abused, raped and executed, hundreds of children forcibly recruited to fight.

Security concerns deepened in the capital of Central African Republic after the US ambassador and other diplomats were evacuated by plane overnight amid fears rebels could try to take the capital.

The president of Central African Republic urgently called on France and other foreign powers to help his government fend off rebels who are quickly seizing territory and approaching the capital city, but French officials declined to offer any military assistance.

A British pilot jailed in Africa after he discovered the victims of an apparent massacre has described his joy at being transferred to house arrest.

Dublin ranks higher than Paris, London or New York in a league of the world’s top cities for living standards.

VIENNA is the best city in the world in which to live according to a new global survey, while Dublin ranks 26th.

Nearly 1,000 armed men, thought to be from Sudan's troubled Darfur region, have occupied a town in the Central African Republic, the main rebel leader in the region said today.

French fighter jets bombed two rebel-held towns in the Central African Republic today, forcing rebels to pull troops out of one of them after fighting with government forces, officials said.

An overloaded boat carrying hundreds of people has sunk on a river in Central African Republic, and at least 13 people were reported dead and dozens more missing.

Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide is today expected leave Central African Republic on a long-haul flight to Jamaica, returning to the Caribbean for the first time since fleeing into exile weeks ago.

Haiti’s interim president was solemnly sworn in as ousted leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide restated his claim from his faraway African asylum to be the country’s true leader.

US marines shot and killed one of the gunmen who fired at a huge demonstration of protesters celebrating the flight from Haiti of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Exiled Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide has called on his countrymen to peacefully resist the “unacceptable occupation” of Haiti and said he remained the nation’s president.

DEPOSED Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide spoke on Central African Republic state radio soon after landing in the capital, Bangui.

The African Union has condemned the coup in the Central African Republic.

At least seven people have been killed after a Sudan Airways cargo plane went down in a sparsely populated residential area in the Central African Republic.