The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday unanimously authorized the deployment of a European Union (EU) force to the Central African Republic (CAR) to support French and African peacekeepers struggling to limit sectarian violence that the United Nations has warned could escalate into genocide. The council also approved financial sanctions against individuals who have committed human-rights abuses and those who threaten peace and political transition process. French Ambassador Gerard Araud said the EU force will be deployed to guard the airport in Bangui, where 100,000 people have taken refuge. He said the deployment will allow French soldiers to move beyond the airport and undertake security operations in the capital and elsewhere. The EU mission is expected to include 500 to 600 soldiers. It is unclear which countries will contribute. "We are starting to stabilize the situation, but it's still very fragile," Araud said at U.N. headquarters in New York City. "We really need the arrival of the European forces." France has sent 1,600 soldiers to support 4,600 African peacekeepers, but few have been deployed to the violent areas farther north. More than 1,000 people have been killed and almost 1 million forced from their homes since December in violence between militias and civilians.
