Act Now to Halt Central Africa Atrocities, Urges Ban

The international community must act swiftly to halt bloodshed in the Central African Republic, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said Friday, warning that unchecked atrocities and sectarian cleansing could lead to decades of conflict.

The U.N. Secretary-General said that parts of the strife-torn country with no history of violence were being drawn into the conflict, and entire Muslim communities had fled in what has been described as an "exodus of historic scale."

"The dark clouds of mass atrocities and sectarian cleansing loom over the Central African Republic," Ban told the U.N. Security Council.

"We must act together, we must act decisively and we must act now to prevent the worst," Ban said, warning the country risked a "de facto partition" if the violence continued.

Ban said he was "deeply concerned by the cycle of revenge and reprisals," across the country.

"Communities that have no history of violent conflict are on a course that, if left unchecked, could lead to decades of debilitating conflict," he said.

Referring to military deployments in the region by France, the European Union and the African Union, he said the Central Africa crisis represented an opportunity to "commit to the strongest possible cooperation and coordination between the United Nations, the AU and the European Union."

"Let us show what solidarity and concerted action can achieve for the people of the Central African Republic," he said.

Ban was participating in a Security Council debate on cooperation between the EU and U.N., which also included Europe's top diplomat, Catherine Ashton.

Ashton said if the U.N. decided that a fully fledged peacekeeping operation was required in Central Africa, the EU "will be happy to work with you to ensure a well-coordinated international support operation."

She later said the EU planned to deploy around 1,000 troops.

Any U.N. peacekeeping operation would require a new U.N. resolution. However, the African Union is reluctant to hand over power to a U.N. force.

France meanwhile has decided to increase to 2,000 the number of military personnel deployed in the country while the pan-African MISCA force now has 5,400 out of a scheduled 6,000 boots on the ground.