New EU force in Central African Republic sets stability as top priority

A local policeman guards an area as people disembark from trucks with their belongings at the transit IDP centre, after having travelled in a convoy escorted by the African Union operation in CAR (MISCA) on a four-day journey from the capital Bangui, on the outskirts of the Central African Republic-Chad border town of Sido April 30, 2014. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola

BANGUI (Reuters) - The top priority of a new European Union peacekeeping force in Central African Republic is to restore stability in the capital, the force commander, French Major-General Philippe Ponties, told a news conference on Friday.

Thousands of people have been killed in intercommunal violence in the former French colony in recent months and close to a million have been displaced from their homes.