PARIS/DAKAR: When France sent troops to halt violence between Christians and Muslims in Central African Republic (CAR), commanders named the mission Sangar is after a local butterfly to reflect its short life. Three months later, it is clear they badly miscalculated.

Buoyed by a swift victory in last year’s war against Islamists in Mali, France’s military predicted six months would be enough to quell the sectarian conflict in CAR, which began in March when Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in the majority Christian country.

Some defence ministry officials said in private that a show of French force would be enough to restore order and no shots need be fired. With its military budget stretched by Mali, Paris gambled on sending a small force of just 1,600 men.

Now, with the country sliding into what the top UN human rights official termed ‘ethnic-religious cleansing’, France faces a long fight with scant support from Western allies to stop the nation of 4.5 million people splitting in two.

France’s parliament is due to vote on extending Sangaris on Tuesday, but officials say Paris has already accepted its troops will stay at least until elections due by February next year, at the request of Interim President Catherine Samba Panza.

Many in France wonder what their troops are doing caught in the middle. Polls show 60 per cent of French question the need to intervene in a nation long regarded as a remote and chaotic backwater.

While in Mali’s desert war air power played a decisive role, military experts say in the warren-like backstreets of CAR’s capital Bangui and the thick bush of the country’s interior what is needed are more boots on the ground.

Responding to international outcry at a series of massacres, France deployed 400 more troops last week to boost its contingent, which is supporting a 6,000-strong African Union peacekeeping mission.

Samba Panza, a former Bangui mayor who took office when Seleka’s leader was forced to step down last month, admits her penniless government is powerless to halt attacks on Muslims.

Former prime minister Anicet Dologuele, a candidate for a presidential election due next year, said France could have avoided the crisis by intervening as soon as Seleka took power.

“It’s not too late, but France or other forces cannot just help restore security and then leave,” he told Reuters. “They must stay for the long-term for the hard rebuilding work.”

Francis Hollande wants France to shed its reputation as “Africa’s policeman” but other Western powers appear reluctant to help shoulder the task.

President Barack Obama, who feted Hollande during a state visit to the United States this month, said France’s leadership in Africa was a key part of their resurgent relationship.

France is lobbying hard for the UN to deploy peacekeepers by the summer. It has won over regional powerbroker Chad, which holds a rotating seat on the Security Council and had originally called for an African solution.

A UN resolution is expected in late March, but resources are scarce.

“There is a lack of interest,” said one Western diplomat.” Central African Republic is not strategic. It’s in the middle of nowhere, and a mission of 10,000 men costs $800 million.”

Calls for a surge

The persistent attacks on Muslims have stirred memories of France’s Operation Turquoise during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, when Paris was accused of intervening too late to halt the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Retired General Henri Pinard Legry, who served in CARc and now heads the French Army Support Association (ASAF), called for an immediate surge in the French deployment to up to 5,000 men to break the cycle of violence.

Part of the challenge for France is that the ‘anti-balaka’ Christian militia lacks a command structure. It is a loose grouping of supporters of ousted President Francois Bozize, members of the armed forces, and Christians out for revenge.

Some of its fighters have been incorporated into the army, raising fears of future atrocities. Outside a military ceremony attended by Interim President Samba Panza this month, uniformed soldiers beat to death a Muslim man.

In Muslim districts of Bangui like PK5 and Miskine, mosques have been pulled down, houses burnt to the ground and stores looted by Christian mobs pledging to rid the country of Muslims.

“The French failed in their mission. People killed Muslim civilians before their eyes without response. They looted shops in front of them,” said Al Mensour, a student in Bangui.

Violence has eased in recent days in the capital as the Muslim population has dwindled. Towns like Mbaiki in the south or Bossangoa in the northwest, have emptied as Muslims have fled to the northeast, creating a de facto division of the country that many Muslims and Seleka leaders openly support.

“After all these reprisals, for me the only solution for peace in this country is partition,” said Mahamed Hissene, a Muslim trader in Bangui. “Without that there will be no peace.”

The attacks on Muslims are making ripples in the wider Muslim world. Palestinians organised a protest in the Gaza Strip last week, while the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) decided to urgently dispatch a fact-finding mission.

“The religious nature of the conflict can only inspire more radicalism,” said Thierry Vircoulon, project director for Central Africa at International Crisis Group.—Reuters