French troops start disarming fighters in C.Africa

French troops today began disarming fighters in the Central African Republic to try to restore security after a swell in sectarian violence that claimed hundreds of lives.
Bangui was relatively calm after days of fighting involving former Seleka rebels in which nearly 400 people were killed, although the stench of dead bodies still permeated some areas of the capital.
The armed men who spread terror on the streets of Bangui had all but disappeared, and French military spokesman Colonel Gilles Jaron said some had already given up their weapons.
"Things are going fairly well," Jaron told AFP in Paris. "In some cases, the armed groups have withdrawn and gone back to their barracks, in others they have given up their arms," he said.

France has deployed 1,600 soldiers to the notoriously unstable majority-Christian country, which was plunged into chaos when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in a March coup.
What started as rebel looting of villages and towns has degenerated into attacks between Muslim and Christian militias with some UN officials warning of a possible genocide.

The French troops, part of a UN-mandated effort to quell the violence, have encountered little opposition since they began deploying last week.
Today they briefly exchanged gunfire with armed men near Bangui's airport, but no casualties were reported.
French soldiers seized a number of weapons and disarmed and briefly detained at least 13 men. But many more weapons are believed to have been stashed away.

"We have started to go out because the French are here," said Arlette Papaye, a local tradeswoman.
"We had remained holed up in our homes and cellars. We are hungry. The French must chase out the Seleka."
The country's interim president Michel Djotodia, a former Seleka rebel leader, today urged his countrymen to cooperate with the French forces, who have come to reinforce a 2,500-strong African Union peacekeeping mission.
But French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned that the disarmament process would not be easy.