The spiraling violence in the Central African Republic could slip into genocide, the U.N.'s humanitarian operations director warned Thursday, calling for large scale humanitarian and military action to help stabilize the country.

The violence "has all the elements that we have seen elsewhere in places like Rwanda, Bosnia. The elements are there for a genocide, there is no question about that," John Ging told reporters in Geneva after a five-day visit to the impoverished and unstable country.

At least seven people were killed in overnight clashes in the Central African Republic's capital of Bangui, according to a compiled toll Thursday from the Red Cross and AFP.

The renewed violence came as the highly unstable country's transitional parliament was meeting to elect a new interim president, after strongman Michel Djotodia resigned last week under intense regional pressure.

Rwandan troops flew on U.S. military aircraft Thursday to the Central African Republic Thursday as part of an African Union mission to the war-torn nation, the Rwandan army said.

Rwanda army chief Patrick Nyamvumba saluted the first batch of a total 850 soldiers who Kigali is sending to troubled CAR, as they boarded a U.S. airplane.

President Francois Hollande voiced confidence on Tuesday that Europe would back French efforts to end the unprecedented sectarian violence in the Central African Republic.

France sent in troops more than a month ago to its mineral-rich but impoverished former colony after a coup fueled more instability in the notoriously volatile nation and led to violence pitting Christians against Muslims.

U.N. investigators in the Central African Republic have found a litany of gross human rights violations including killings committed by both sides in the conflict, the world body's rights chief said Tuesday.

"The widespread lawlessness and gross human rights violations highlighted in these preliminary findings confirm the need for urgent action and accountability," Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement.

The Central African Republic began the search for a new president Tuesday, as life showed tentative signs of returning to normal despite a "volatile" situation after weeks of brutal sectarian violence.

A special session of parliament convened to elect a new interim leader for the poor landlocked country of 4.6 million people that has been gripped by a terrifying spiral of violence including reports of cannibalism.

At least 127 people have been killed and some 100 others wounded in violence in the Central African Republic over the past three days, the country's Red Cross office said on Monday.

The president of the country's Red Cross Antoine Mbaobogo said 25 bodies had been collected in Bangui, 97 in the north-western town of Bozoum and five in M'Bata in the south-west.

Hundreds of deserting Central African Republic soldiers and police returned to their commands on Monday as the interim president said "the party is over" following weeks of deadly sectarian violence.

The soldiers and police had deserted for fear of being killed or joined a Christian militia who had opposed Michel Djotodia, the mainly Christian country's first Muslim president who resigned Friday under international pressure.

Rival militiamen struck a truce Sunday and hugged each other in a neighborhood of the Central African Republic's capital on the eve of consultations aimed at replacing the president who resigned under international pressure.

The event reported by witnesses and CAR's chief of staff offered a glimmer of hope that weeks of deadly sectarian violence would end following the resignation Friday of Michel Djotodia, the mainly Christian country's first Muslim president who left to Benin on Saturday.

A top U.N. official called for calm Saturday in the Central African Republic, following the resignation of its president and prime minister after months of sectarian violence.

The United Nations' special representative to the country, Babacar Gaye, appealed to the population "to maintain calm and show maturity following the resignations."