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Hollande: French Troops Will Leave Central African Republic in October


FILE - French President Francois Hollande gives a speech at the French Military base Sangaris Mpoko in Bangui, Central African Republic, May 13, 2016. Hollande announced on June 13, 2016, that France will end a three-year military peacekeeping operation in CAR in Oct.
FILE - French President Francois Hollande gives a speech at the French Military base Sangaris Mpoko in Bangui, Central African Republic, May 13, 2016. Hollande announced on June 13, 2016, that France will end a three-year military peacekeeping operation in CAR in Oct.

France will end a three-year military peacekeeping operation in Central African Republic in October, Francois Hollande has said, although security remains volatile.

The operation was launched in December 2013 to try to end a cycle of tit for tat killing that began when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters toppled the then-president, prompting reprisals by Christian anti-Balaka militias.

The defense ministry says Operation Sangaris currently commands around 350 troops in CAR, down from a peak of 2,000, and supports a 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force.

Hollande announced the operation's end date late on Wednesday. French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had announced in January the operation would end this year.

Clashes have continued since President Faustin-Archange Tauadera took power in March in an election intended to draw a line under intercommunal and interreligious violence.

"Next October Jean-Yves Le Drian ... will go to Central African Republic to officially announce the end of operation Sangaris," said Hollande in a speech in Paris.

"I want to state clearly that deciding to intervene is a great responsibility, but knowing when to end an operation is also a major concern," the president added.

"You can't do it too fast, too early, or too late," he said.

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    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

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