More troops to help fight rebels in CAR

The country’s neighbours have agreed to increase the number of troops stationed there to help defend against rebels threatening to overthrow the government.

The Economic Community of Central African States – which already has more than 500 peacekeepers in the Central African Republic – announced its decision yesterday in Gabon’s capital Libreville, ahead of peace talks that are planned between the Seleka rebels and the government in early January.

The insurgency poses the biggest threat yet to President François Bozize’s nearly ten years in charge of the nation, which has remained poor since independence from France in 1960 despite rich deposits of uranium, gold and diamonds.

“We are thinking of a way to deploy this mission as quickly as possible,” Gabon’s foreign minister, Emmanuel Issoze Ngondet, said after a meeting with his regional counterparts.