Hollande to visit Central African

French President Francois Hollande will pay a whistle-stop visit to the Central African Republic on Friday amid ongoing violence and a French reinforcement of its deployment to that country, his office announced Thursday. On Wednesday, the French Parliament gave Hollande approval to continue his campaign in CAR beyond four months, a constitutional requirement that will give the President leverage to try to resolve the ethnic strife that has killed almost 1,300 people in the capital, Bangui, where mainly Christian militias have been targeting Muslim residents, causing widespread evacuations and the intervention of France's 1,600 troops and 6,000 African forces. France has said it will deploy another 400 troops in the coming days for peace-keeping missions and to disarm militia groups. Hollande, who will be returning from a State visit in Nigeria, will meet troops on the ground in CAR and also hold talks with President Catherine Samba-Panza and religious authorities in Bangui.