French troops have deployed tanks around the presidential palace in the capital Bangui shortly after the resignations of the president and the premier of the Central African Republic. Several French tanks were deployed around the presidential palace and other government buildings across the violence-stricken city on Friday. This comes hours after both the interim President Michel Djotodia and the... 

France has planned to keep a military presence in Mali beyond 2014, the country’s defense minister has announced. “Today, there are 3,700 French soldiers in Mali. We said, and the French president repeated it yesterday (Friday) that we will maintain our soldiers in Mali even after the end of this year,” Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Saturday. “It will be a limited number (of... 

French soldiers take up position on a street in Gao, Mali on April 13, 2013. France’s defense minister has reaffirmed that the country will keep 1,000 troops in Mali to fight armed groups even after the arrival of more than 12,000 UN peacekeepers later this year. A day after the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of the peacekeeping force, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian... 

France has withdrawn its first batch of 100 troops out of the 4,000 deployed in Mali as it prepares to hand over operations to a UN peacekeeping force, with 1,000 French troops to remain on the ground by the end of the year. However, fears are mounting that Mali will become a drawn-out war, spilling into other regions and fueling terrorism. France justified its January intervention into Mali as a... 

France has sent some 350 troops to the Central African Republic to counter the Seleka fighters, who have allegedly taken control of the capital city of Bangui. According to a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity on Sunday, some 150 French military personnel were dispatched from Libreville, the capital of Gabon, a day after 200 French troops arrived in Bangui. This comes after fighters... 

France is planning to triple the number of its soldiers fighting anti-government militants in the West African nation of Mali. “There will be a gradual build-up [in the number of French troops in Mali] to a figure of 2,500,” said a source close to Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Tuesday. The announcement of France’s plans to increase the number of troops in Mali comes after French... 

Sarkozy, Karzai Agree to Push 2013 ‘Handover,’ But for Very Different Reasons. In a move that was probably inevitable after they froze training operations last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced that French troops will begin transferring control of their sphere of influence, in Kapisa Province, to the Afghan government in March and speed their withdrawal of troops. The...