By KRISTA LARSON
Shrouded bodies lay in a mosque in Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5 2013 following a day-long gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias. Over 40 bodies, civilian and some military, have been brought for funeral preparations. Gunfire and mortar rounds erupted in the town, leaving scores dead and wounded. To try to put an end to sectarian violence, the UN security council passed a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic
Shrouded bodies lay in a mosque in Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5 2013 following a day-long gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias. Over 40 bodies, civilian and some military, have been brought for funeral preparations. Gunfire and mortar rounds erupted in the town, leaving scores dead and wounded. To try to put an end to sectarian violence, the UN security council passed a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
APTOPIX Central African Republic Violence
Seleka soldiers wearing lucky charms around their necks wait outside Bangui’s hospital, Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 following a day-long gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias. Fighting came to the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday, leaving dozens of casualties and posing the biggest threat yet to the new government just as the U.N. Security Council authorized an intervention force to prevent a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic Violence
A young man screams in pain as he lies in a pool of blood on the floor of Bangui’s hospital, Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, following a day-long gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias. Fighting came to the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday, leaving dozens of casualties and posing the biggest threat yet to the new government just as the U.N. Security Council authorized an intervention force to prevent a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
APTOPIX Central African Republic Violence
Seleka soldiers rest at their military camp in Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 following a day-long gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias. Fighting came to the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday, leaving dozens of casualties and posing the biggest threat yet to the new government just as the U.N. Security Council authorized an intervention force to prevent a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
APTOPIX Central African Republic Violence
Civilians wait for further treatment at Bangui’s hospital, Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 following a day-long gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias. Fighting came to the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday, leaving dozens of casualties and posing the biggest threat yet to the new government just as the U.N. Security Council authorized an intervention force to prevent a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic
Seleka soldiers race through Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5 2013 as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the town. To try to put an end to sectarian violence, the UN security council is scheduled to pass a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
APTOPIX Central African Republic
Civilians seek shelter in a catholic church in Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5 2013. Heavy gunfire erupted in the capital of the Central African Republic on Thursday and over a score of people were killed and dozens of civilians wounded. The United Nations planned to authorize within hours an intervention force into the near anarchic and impoverished nation. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic
Seleka soldiers race through Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5, 2013 as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the town. To try to put an end to sectarian violence, the UN security council is scheduled to pass a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic
Christians from the village of Bouebou, some 40 kms (30 miles) North of Bangui, Central African Republic, load up on a taxi as they flee sectarian violence Wednesday Dec. 4, 2013. Over 500 villagers have fled towards the capital Bangui fearing repression from Seleka fighters following the killing of Muslim residents by the Anti-Balaka militias Monday Dec. 2 nearby. The UN security council is scheduled to pass a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic Violence
French Special Forces race through Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the town. To try to put an end to sectarian violence, the United Nations security council is scheduled to pass a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
APTOPIX Central African Republic Violence
A woman walks by the Notre Dame catholic church in Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the town. To try to put an end to sectarian violence, the United Nations security council is scheduled to pass a motion allowing French troops to deploy in the country in order to protect civilians and insure security by all necessary means. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic
Seleka soldiers race through Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5 2013 as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the town. Heavy gunfire erupted in the capital of the Central African Republic on Thursday and over a dozen people were killed and many civilians wounded. The United Nations planned to authorize within hours an intervention force into the near anarchic and impoverished nation. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic
Seleka soldiers race through Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5 2013 as gunfire and mortar rounds erupt in the town. Heavy gunfire erupted in the capital of the Central African Republic on Thursday and over a dozen people were killed and many civilians wounded. The United Nations planned to authorize within hours an intervention force into the near anarchic and impoverished nation. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic
Two-year-old Dany sits in a catholic church where she and others seeked refuge, in Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday Dec. 5 2013. Heavy gunfire erupted in the capital of the Central African Republic on Thursday and over a dozen people were killed and many civilians wounded. The United Nations planned to authorize within hours an intervention force into the near anarchic and impoverished nation. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Central African Republic Violence
Seleka soldiers patrol in Bangui, Central African Republic, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013 following a day-long gun battle between Seleka soldiers and Christian militias. Fighting came to the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday, leaving dozens of casualties and posing the biggest threat yet to the new government just as the U.N. Security Council authorized an intervention force to prevent a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
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BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Fighting swept through the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday, leaving nearly one hundred people dead and posing the biggest threat yet to the country’s new government. The U.N. Security Council authorized an intervention force to prevent a bloodbath between Christians and Muslims.
Witnesses and aid workers say at least 98 people are dead in Bangui after a day of clashes between the Muslim armed fighters who rule the country and a Christian militia who opposes them.
An Associated Press journalist counted 48 bodies at a mosque in a northern neighborhood late Thursday. Separately, Doctors Without Borders confirmed at least 50 people were dead at hospitals they are running.
The armed Christian fighters attacked the capital before dawn, in the most serious violence to hit Bangui since a March coup brought the Seleka rebel coalition to power. The former rebels are accused of committing scores of human rights abuses. The Christian militias who support the deposed president are implicated in massacres on Muslim communities.
In Bangui, people scurried indoors, some seeking sanctuary in a church. Inside a Bangui hospital, dozens of people with gunshot wounds lay on the floor or on wooden benches, waiting for hours to see a physician. Underscoring the chaos, even the president’s and prime minister’s homes were looted.
The U.N. Security Council unanimously authorized increased military action by France and African troops aimed at restoring security and protecting civilians in the volatile former French colony.
Speaking from the Elysee Palace in Paris, French President Francois Hollande promised that the 600 hundred troops in the country will be doubled “within a few days, even a few hours.” He said the Central African Republic was “calling us for help,” and he “decided to act immediately.”
The country’s prime minister welcomed the intervention while in Paris for a summit of dozens of African leaders hosted by Hollande. In his first reaction to the move, Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye told The Associated Press that he sees it “very positively” and that he had wanted a “firm reaction from France.” He called for fast action “to put an end to this violence and these atrocities.”
Tiangaye confirmed his house had been looted, describing the attackers as a group of Seleka who arrived in three pickup trucks.
“It’s true, my house was attacked and pillaged,” he said, adding that his family was evacuated beforehand and were safe.
Hours after fighting broke out, Central African Republic’s president, who was installed by Seleka earlier this year, said the clashes were over. By afternoon, the streets were empty of all but military vehicles and the four-wheel-drive trucks favored by Seleka.
Babacar Gaye, the U.N. special representative for the Central African Republic, appealed for calm in a joint statement from the U.N., European Union, African Union and France.
Seleka is an unlikely group of allies who united a year ago with the goal of forcing President Francois Bozize from the presidency after a decade in power. After thousands of rebels besieged Bangui in March, Bozize fled and the insurgents installed their leader Michel Djotodia as president.
Djotodia has increasingly sought to distance himself from Seleka, which has been blamed for scores of atrocities in Bangui, killing and raping civilians and stealing from aid groups and orphanages. He has even less control in the distant provinces where anger over Seleka human rights abuses fueled the formation of the Christian anti-balaka movement several months ago. Balaka means “machete.”
While the anti-balaka fighters include villagers defending their communities against Seleka attacks, the group is believed to be receiving support from Bozize allies. The anti-balaka fighters also have been implicated in massacres on Muslim civilian populations, which also have suffered under the Seleka regime and say they are being unfairly blamed for the destruction.
The U.N. Security Council resolution authorizes the deployment of an African Union-led force to Central African Republic for a year to protect civilians and restore security and public order. The AU force is replacing a regional peacekeeping mission whose presence has been mainly limited to the capital and a few northern cities.
The U.N. resolution also authorizes French forces, for a temporary period, “to take all necessary measures” to support the AU-led force known as MISCA, whose troop numbers are expected to rise from about 2,500 to 3,500.
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Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Lori Hinnant and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
