Several thousand Muslim supporters of the Central African Republic's former rebel group Seleka protested Sunday against French troops conducting a disarmament operation.

The demonstration in the capital Bangui marked the most significant show of hostility towards France since it deployed troops on December 5 to end the chaos that followed Seleka's coup in March.

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir has expressed concern about instability in neighboring South Sudan and other volatile states in the region, official media reported Sunday.

Bashir "expressed his concern about what is going on in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Libya and Egypt,” the state SUNA news agency reported.

At least 29 have been killed in a fresh outbreak of sectarian violence in Bangui, the Red Cross in the Central African Republic said Friday.

Doctors without Borders said around 40 victims had been taken to a community hospital in the capital, most of them with gunshot wounds, after the latest fighting broke out late on Thursday.

Medical facilities in the conflict-ravaged Central African Republic have come under attack, the U.N. health agency said Friday, as aid groups warned of difficulties in getting supplies to those in need.

"Health centers and hospitals continue to be targeted by unidentified militias," World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

European Union leaders hailed France's intervention in the Central African Republic on Friday and promised a decision on a possible EU support mission in January.

"This is the second time in a year that France has courageously taken the lead in a serious crisis," EU President Herman Van Rompuy said, referring to French intervention in Mali early this year.

Poland said Friday it would send a manned military transport aircraft to back French troops in the Central African Republic in February.

"We will give France logistical support with a military transport aircraft and service crew," of 50 soldiers starting on February 1, 2014 for three months," Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said on his official Twitter feed.

The U.S. envoy to the United Nations was in Central African Republic Thursday to urge political and religious leaders to end brutal violence, warning the people were "in profound danger".

Samantha Power is the highest-level U.S. official to visit the CAR, which has plunged into anarchy with sectarian violence that has killed hundreds of people.

The Central African Republic's mostly Muslim ex-rebels killed nearly 1,000 people in the capital Bangui two weeks ago in a rampage avenging deadly Christian militia attacks, Amnesty International said in a report Thursday.

The death toll was significantly higher than earlier estimates by the United Nations, which spoke of 450 killed in Bangui and another 150 elsewhere in the country.

The Central African Republic's interim president and prime minister were to hold talks Wednesday in a bid to end a political rift, as several European countries offered to help quell deadly sectarian violence in the country.

Tensions have spiked between rebel-leader-turned-president Michel Djotodia and Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye after three ministers were unexpectedly fired by presidential decree at the weekend.

Germany and Britain are providing logistical support to a military force in the Central African Republic, a French minister said Wednesday, amending comments made earlier indicating they were considering sending troops.

Speaking on RTL radio earlier Wednesday, European Affairs Minister Thierry Repentin said that Belgium could send troops at the end of January to prop up a 1,600-strong French force attempting to quell deadly sectarian violence in Central Africa.