More soldiers to deploy to CAR crisis

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

The African Union’s commissioner for peace and security, Smail Chergui, toured the country’s troubled capital Bangui yesterday.

He said the Rwandan troops will join the 3,800 African Union peacekeepers already stationed there as early as next month.

The African Union force in the Central African Republic has been dogged by accusations that its contingent from Chad – made up of Muslim soldiers – have sided with the Muslim rebels who overran Bangui nine months ago, seizing power in a coup which ousted the nation’s Christian president.

In the past week, reporters saw the Chadian troops open fire on a crowd of Christian demonstrators.