African Union doubles troop levels
in CAR as violence continues

The African Union has authorized increasing its force deployed to Central African Republic (CAR) to 6,000 troops from 2,500, a senior AU official told Reuters on Friday.

Former colonial power France has also boosted its troop contingent, two of whom were killed this week.

French troops backed by a helicopter traded fire with suspected rebels in a tense neighborhood in the capital of Bangui on Friday, as France's Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian flew in to monitor the situation as his troops try to stabilize the increasingly lawless country.

Violence showed few signs of abating Friday in the capital's Miskine neighborhood, where about a dozen Muslim men with machetes faced off against a group of Christian youths.

Anger erupted in the neighborhood after the death of a Christian taxi driver at the hands of the mostly Muslim former rebels who killed him during the night.

The impoverished country has become increasingly chaotic since March, when rebel groups overthrew the Christian-led government. Some 1,600 French forces are trying to disarm Bangui, but face a backlash from residents, who are often armed.

"They are looting our shops and homes. We have the right to intervene and protect ourselves," said Hassan Annour, a 36-year-old wielding a machete.

People on both sides have carried out retaliatory violence across CAR, an overwhelmingly Christian country that until March had seen little sectarian strife.

Earlier in the week, the United States began airlifting Burundian troops to Central African Republic as part of efforts to help African and French forces prevent a descent into civil war.

The Burundians are due to join an African peacekeeping force that has struggled to contain violence in the country that has killed more than 500 people in the past week.

CAR Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye issued a new warning about the rising violence, urging a rapid disarming of all sides.

"Religious communities that have always lived together in perfect harmony are now massacring each other. The situation must be stopped as soon as possible," Tiangaye said.

Le Drian arrived Friday to meet with troops and commanders who are bolstering regional African peacekeepers in the country, the French military said.

Even as the French worked to secure the city of 700,000, the U.N. said more than 160,000 people had fled their homes in Bangui. At least 30,000 of them are living around the airport guarded by French troops, afraid of returning to homes where former Muslim rebels have attacked civilians each night.

On Friday, officials from the U.N. World Food Program began distributing rice, oil and split peas to several thousand people. Aid workers used megaphones to call out names of displaced people who had registered, but the names could hardly be heard over the shouts of frustration.

"We've been here for seven days and have not been able to find food," said Sophie Matias, 45, who was sleeping at the airport with her 10 children. "The kids are so hungry, they keep asking for food but we have nothing. "

A UNICEF cargo plane was expected to bring humanitarian supplies later Friday, including blankets and plastic sheeting for nearly 38,000 people.

The charity group Doctors Without Borders has criticized the U.N. response to the growing humanitarian crisis. In an open letter, the aid group said it "deplores the appalling performance of U.N. humanitarian agencies ... . Repeated evaluations in the face of glaring needs and numerous coordination meetings have not led to any concrete action around the main hotspots."

Al Jazeera and wire services