France says will end military operation in C.Africa this year

BANGUI (CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC) (AFP) - 

France will end its military intervention in the Central African Republic this year as it has achieved its objectives of restoring security to the country after three years of communal violence, the French defence minister said Wednesday.

"I can confirm to you the end of Operation Sangaris during the course of 2016," Jean-Yves Le Drian said in the capital Bangui, adding that the "Sangaris force has succeeded in restoring calm" even if "everything is not resolved."

France launched Operation Sangaris in December 2013 at a time when thousands were dying in brutal ethnic violence