Hostility rises against French troops in CAR

The French soldiers deployed to the Central African Republic (CAR) to curb the violence in the country face hostile sentiments from CAR citizens as the foreign forces have failed to fulfill their mission six months after arriving, reports say.

Hostility toward the soldiers, who launched Operation Sangaris in the former French colony last December, has been brewing for weeks as the African nation remains the scene of deadly clashes.

The antagonism reached its peak on May 28, when 17 people were killed at a church in the capital, Bangui, and nearly 30 others were kidnapped, according to the UN. The foreign forces were accused of failing to intervene to stop the assault.

Residents in Miskine, which is a Christian neighborhood of Bangui, jeered at the French troops over the weekend while in Muslim districts chants of “No to France!” are often heard.

“When they arrived, we had hope that they were going to disarm the country,” said Noel Ngoulo, the secretary general of Bangui University, adding, “But as time has gone on, the population noticed that the disarmament was delayed. People are angry at the French because they have the impression that the mission objective has changed, from a mission of disarmament to one of simple intervention.”

In December 2013, France deployed troops to the CAR after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution giving the African Union and Paris the go-ahead to deploy troops to the country.

France has deployed some 2,000 troops to the CAR. However, many believe the French troops target Muslims and turn a blind eye to the acts of violence committed by the Christian militia, an accusation Paris rejects.

In February, Amnesty International said a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” is underway against Muslim civilians in the CAR despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops in the country.

Over the past weeks, the African country has witnessed a wave of anti-Paris protests amid increasing anger at France’s military presence in the country.