United States military will transport African troops from Burundi to Central African Republic 101213

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Defence & Security News - United States
 
 
Tuesday, December 10, 2013 08:40 AM
 
United States military will transport African troops from Burundi to Central African Republic.
Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, has ordered the US military to transport African troops from Burundi into the Central African Republic to help quell the latest upsurge in violence there. Hagel approved the order after speaking with French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday, December 9, 2013, night from Afghanistan where he was visiting troops.
     
Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretary, has ordered the US military to transport African troops from Burundi into the Central African Republic to help quell the latest upsurge in violence there. Hagel approved the order after speaking with French Minister of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian on Monday, December 9, 2013, night from Afghanistan where he was visiting troops.
Chuck Hagel, the US defence secretaryhas ordered the US military to transport African troops from Burundi into the Central African Republic.
     

Le Drian asked the US to help get the troops quickly into the country to prevent the violence there from spreading, said Pentagon spokesman Carl Woog.

There are more than 1,600 French troops in the Central African Republic, where more than 400 people were killed in two days of violence last week between Christians and Muslims.

The fighting in the former French colony is between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels - originally from neighbouring Chad and Sudan - and the Christian anti-Balaka whose name means "machete", the weapon of choice for Seleka.

Woog said Hagel directed the US Africa Command to begin transporting forces in coordination with France because the US believes immediate action is needed to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.