The US military should help fly African Union peacekeeping troops to the Central African Republic as a part of a French-led effort to revive security there, US officials said Monday.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, in Qatar on a tour of the region, has ordered American forces “to begin transporting forces from Burundi to the Central African Republic, in coordination with France,” his spokesman said in a press release.
The Pentagon will make two C-17 transport planes available to move roughly 850 Burundian soldiers, a US defense official said on condition of anonymity, noting: “We hope to start out tomorrow.”
The mission to ferry the troops and their equipment must be completed in an issue of days, the official said.
Hagel took the choice after conferring by phone Sunday with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who requested “limited” US military assistance to support the international effort, spokesman Carl Woog said.
“In the near term, France has requested airlift support to enable African forces to deploy promptly to stop the further spread of sectarian violence within the Central African Republic,” he said.
“The Usa is joining the international community during this effort as a result of our belief that immediate action is needed to avert a humanitarian and human rights catastrophe within the Central African Republic, and thanks to our interest in peace and security within the region.”
Meanwhile US President Barack Obama appealed for calm inside the country and for the arrests of these behind the surge of sectarian violence, the White House said.
Deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters on Air Force One Obama recorded the message to the rustic while on a refueling stop in Dakar on his strategy to South Africa for Nelson Mandela’s memorial.
“The awful violence of contemporary days threatens the rustic you adore,” Obama said, urging people to “choose an extra path.”
Muslim and Christian leaders “are calling for calm and peace. I call at the transitional government to sign up for these voices and to arrest people who are committing crimes,” Obama said.
The Usa would look to possibly provide “additional resources” if needed, the army statement said, without offering details.
More than a year ago, america deployed about 100 special forces to the region to aid Ugandan forces track warlord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighters.
The US troops are based in Uganda, but their search involves a stretch of jungle within the eastern corner of the Central African Republic.
The announcement from the Pentagon came as French troops on Monday started disarming fighters within the country after a spike in sectarian violence that claimed hundreds of lives.
In addition to the French contingent at the ground, the African Union plans to reinforce a regional force to six,000 troops from an initially planned 3,600.
The Pentagon offered similar assistance throughout the French intervention in Mali, providing cargo aircraft and sharing intelligence with their allies.
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