French forces deploy outside Central African Republic capital
PARIS (Reuters) - French forces started deploying to the north and west of Central African Republic on Saturday to secure main roads and towns outside the capital, French army spokesman Gilles Jarron said.
"We have started to deploy outside of Bangui," Jarron said, adding that pre-positioned troops had crossed the border from Cameroon into the west of Central African Republic.
"We have also started the first missions from Bangui towards the north of the country," he said, adding that the French contingent had now reached its full strength of 1,200 troops.
(This story has been corrected to clarify that troops are deploying west not east)
(Reporting By Emmanuel Jarry; writing by John Irish; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
