Central African Republic: Security Improving, French General Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/05/world/africa/central-african-republic-security-improving-french-general-says.html

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Gen. Éric Bellot des Minières, the commander of France’s military operation in the Central African Republic, says that security has improved considerably there and that the French authorities are studying plans for reducing troops. He was speaking a day before the first anniversary of President François Hollande’s order to deploy hundreds more troops in the former French colony amid sectarian killings. Warning that “the situation remains fragile,” the general said economic activity was returning, and political dialogue had resumed. Most of the 100,000 displaced people who had taken refuge near the airport in Bangui, the capital, in January under French military cover have since left, he said. France has about 2,000 troops in the country and plans to scale that down as the United Nations bolsters its peacekeeping force there.