[Pak Daily Times] Terrified Bangui residents anxiously waited for French troops to secure the city Sunday before emerging from their homes after a wave of sectarian violence killed hundreds.The French force received a triumphant welcome Saturday as it deployed across other parts of the Central African Republic in a bid to stem the chaos that has gripped the country since a March coup.
The communal strife that has wracked the Central African bush for months flared in Bangui on Thursday, killing nearly 400 people.
"We have counted 394 dead in the last three days," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on La Belle France 3 television.
The French contingent, which army front man Colonel Gilles Jaron said had reached its new full strength of 1,600 by Sunday, has secured strategic locations in Bangui.
But traumatised residents were eager Sunday to see the troops move deeper into the neighbourhoods. "We're waiting for the French to enter our districts and be sure we won't encounter any of those gunnies," one resident told AFP.
"We're all exhausted from living in fear. We want this to end," said another, declining to give his name.
Jaron said no further festivities had been reported since Thursday but added that tension was palpable as French forces prepared to hunt down marauding gangs of ex-rebels.
"I think they understand that they will have to be gathered and disarmed and that the French force is subduing them, that creates tension," he said.
In comments on national radio, Central African Republic President Michel Djotodia thanked the former colonial power for its military help.
On Saturday, cheering residents honked horns, danced and banged on saucepans as some 200 French troops rolled into the western town of Bouar from neighbouring Cameroon.
"Thank you" and "Save us", yelled some of the thousands of people massed to see the convoy bristling with guns and French fighters in high-tech combat gear swoop into town.
French President Francois Hollande
...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
, describing the Bangui bloodshed as "terrifying", announced 400 extra soldiers on Saturday but said there would be no further reinforcements and insisted most troops would not stay more than six months.
The French presidency also announced that the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
would boost the regional MISCA force also on the ground to 6,000 troops from a planned 3,600.
Hollande said the job of the French and African troops would be "to disarm militias who are acting like gangsters, raping women and even killing people in hospitals."
"I believe we can quickly put a stop to the current atrocities and massacres."
