U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon warned Monday that anarchy in Central African Republic risks spiraling further out of control and could need up to 9,000 peacekeepers.
Ban expressed alarm about increasing retaliatory attacks between Muslim and Christian groups in a report which calls on the U.N. Security Council to act urgently on the crisis.
Rebels overthrew Central African Republic's president in March but a transitional government has lost all grip on the huge but impoverished country of 4.5 million people.
"The population lives in fear," Ban said in the report, obtained by Agence France Presse ahead of a Security Council meeting on the crisis next Monday.
Ban suggests five ways in which the international community can act.
Four involve providing various forms of financing and logistical support for an African force already in the country.
The fifth option is a U.N. peacekeeping force of between 6,000 and 9,000 troops, plus 1,700 police.
Ban expressed alarm about increasing retaliatory attacks between Muslim and Christian groups in a report which calls on the U.N. Security Council to act urgently on the crisis.
Rebels overthrew Central African Republic's president in March but a transitional government has lost all grip on the huge but impoverished country of 4.5 million people.
"The population lives in fear," Ban said in the report, obtained by Agence France Presse ahead of a Security Council meeting on the crisis next Monday.
Ban suggests five ways in which the international community can act.
Four involve providing various forms of financing and logistical support for an African force already in the country.
The fifth option is a U.N. peacekeeping force of between 6,000 and 9,000 troops, plus 1,700 police.
