Poland to provide one military transport aircraft to help French troops in Central African Republic

Poland will support the Sangaris operation of French Army in CAR with a military transport aircraft and his crew and support group. The aircraft type was not specified, but it could be a C-130 Hercules which is recently enters in service with the Polish Air Force.

France also request support with ground forces, but Poland does not want to respond to this request for now, until the end of mission in Afghanistan.

On Polish side, it is estimated that this land engagement require a more explicit authorization from the United Nations. The current resolution provides an explicit authorization to use force only for African forces MISCA and French troops.

While European nations including Poland, Britain, Germany, Spain and Belgium have provided various forms of assistance, French troops are intervening alone for the second time this year after ousting Islamist rebels in Mali, another former African colony.

More than 600 Burundian troops arrived on Tuesday according to news agency dpa, with 850 to be on the ground in the Central African Republic by December 19. They will be part of the United Nation's African-led International Support Mission (MISCA) - numbering around 3,500 - that also has support from 1,600 French troops.

Their arrival - and the news of further support from Europe - comes at an important time, with French soldiers launching a dawn offensive on a base of Christian militia in the northern district of the capital Bangui on Tuesday. Weapons were seized and ammunition neutralized in another attempt to disarm the militia groups destabilizing the country.