France is predicting that the U.N. Security Council will vote unanimously Today to authorize a nearly 12,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force for Central African Republic, which has been torn by mounting violence between Christians and Muslims.
The 10,000 U.N. troops and 1,800 police would take over from more than 5,000 African Union soldiers but not until Sept. 15.
France, the country’s former colonial power which drafted the resolution, scheduled the vote for Thursday morning. A separate 2,000-strong French force in the Central African Republic would be authorized to use “all necessary means” to support the new U.N. force, to be known as MINUSCA.
Central African Republic has been in chaos since a March 2013 coup,