By Alex Duval Smith in Paris

A raid by French paratroops on rebels in the Central African Republic (CAR) destroyed a town and forced 2,000 civilians to flee into neighbouring Darfur.

Details of the three-day operation - the extent of which had been kept secret by the French army chief of staff - were obtained by The Independent after a United Nations emergency mission travelled to Birao, which is on the Sudan border.

“We found a ghost town,” said Toby Lanzer, UN humanitarian affairs co-ordinator for CAR. “It was like Grozny or parts of Mogadishu. Seventy per cent of buildings were burnt and only about 600 civilians were left. They were in a dazed state. They have nothing.

“We urgently need to carry out aerial reconnaissance to find out where the rest of the population has gone. We have traced 2,000 to camps in Darfur. That people should choose to flee into Darfur gives a measure of how terrified they must have been.”

France has a defence agreement with CAR and practically runs the country’s army. It has previously argued that its operations are aimed at preventing the spread of the Darfur crisis.

But the Birao operation, which began on 4 March, seems to have been order-ed to evacuate 18 French soldiers stationed in the town since December.

Mirage F1 jets bombed rebel pick-up trucks and dozens of paratroops were airdropped into the combat zone.

The French soldiers who were in the town had been supporting CAR troops in ousting the Union des Forces Démocratiques pour le Rassemblement (UFDR), a rebel group believed to draw fighters from CAR, Chad and Sudan.

Mr Lanzer said: “It was France’s first major airborne para drop into a war zone since 19 May 1978, when the Foreign Legion jumped on Kolwezi, Zaire, to free European hostages from rebel hands.”

He added that 150 French troops had remained at the site.

It is not suggested that the elite French troops burnt Birao to the ground. but given the pattern of conflict in the region, it is likely that much of the torching of homes, schools and a hospital was carried out by CAR soldiers who could not have recaptured the town without the help of the French.

Mr Lanzer did not wish to speculate. “It is not helpful to play the blame game. Our mission is humanitarian and it is urgent. We need to trace the thousands of civilians who have disappeared, and save lives.”

The UN emergency relief co-ordinator, John Holmes, is touring the region and was expected in CAR yesterday. He may travel to Birao.

Unlike the Sudanese government, which is hostile to UN intervention, the CAR President François Bozizé - who ousted President Ange-Félix Patassé and come to power four years ago - welcomes international interest in his country’s problems.

The President claims the UFDR is, like the Darfur militias, backed by Sudan. However, others say they are disgruntled, former allies of Mr Bozizé who helped him in the coup that removed Mr Patassé, but were not given government jobs.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article2405121.ece

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