BANGUI: French President Francois Hollande is expected in Bangui Friday, nearly three months into a mission to stop deadly sectarian killing that is proving more arduous than planned.
Capping a week that saw the French parliament extend Operation Sangaris and 400 extra troops arrive in the Central African Republic, Hollande was due to meet its interim president.
Catherine Samba Panza has urged France and the African Union to make full use of their UN mandate to "wipe out these unchecked elements that poison our lives."
France's top commander in Bangui, General Francisco Soriano, has retorted that the Central Africans needed to start doing their share.
"Central Africans need to participate in the reconstruction of their own country. We already do a lot," he told AFP Thursday in Bangui, where security was high ahead of Hollande's visit.
Hollande visited the former colony for the first time in early December, days after French troops poured into the country to cheers from villagers.
Three months on, there is more hostility toward the French, as the violence has continued to escalate, sparking warnings by top aid officials that ethnic cleansing was under way.
"No need to come Mr Hollande, we're already dead," said one woman in a Bangui street when asked about the French president's fresh visit.
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