Dozens of bodies recovered after CAR violence

MASS GRAVE

Bangui's Public Prosecutor Ghislain Gresenguet said authorities on Wednesday discovered some 30 bodies clustered near the Roux military camp by a hill on the edge of Bangui. The corpses were scattered over a 200-metre (yard) area.

"Some of the bodies were tied up. Others had big gashes and wounds which showed that they had been tortured," Gresenguet told Radio France International. "They were likely killed somewhere else and dumped there."

The militia, known as 'anti-balaka' which means anti-machete in the local Sango language, accuse Chadian forces of supporting the Seleka rebels. Chad strongly denies this.

MISCA's commanding officer, Martin Tumenta Chomu, said on Tuesday Chadian troops would be moved outside the capital to northern Central African Republic. The 4,000-strong MISCA force is scheduled to reach 6,000 soldiers by the end of January.

Colonel Gilles Jaron, spokesman for the French military, said France was deploying troops to flashpoints in the city, such as the Gabongo and Bacongo neighbourhoods.

French soldiers conduct a daytime patrol in a neighbourhood in Bangui, after shooting continued overnight in the capital, December 26, 2013.[Photo/Agencies]

France's force, code-named Sangaris, has between 1,000 and 1,200 men in Bangui, with the rest deployed in the interior.

"The Sangaris force has not been the target of coordinated attacks. We are the target of sporadic shooting which we respond to each time," he said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is drafting plans for a possible UN peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic.