( CNN ) -- Is the Central African Republic the world 's next Rwanda ? That 's the question some are beginning to ask about a crisis that has been going on for most of this year but has only just burst through into the mainstream international mass media . Warlords ruling the countryside by terror , a government that is almost toothless and the collapse of institutions have forced 0.4 million people to flee their homes and left a million dependent on aid . And now reports of Muslim and Christian communities engaged in inter-communal violence have sparked concern about a slide into religious conflict . The `` G-word '' -- genocide -- has even been floated as a real risk by some observers . In fact the country has not yet sunk that far . There is no sign of ideological motivation or the systematic political organization of mass killings . Read more : What 's happening in the Central African Republic . Humanitarian agencies active on the ground believe the Central African Republic ( CAR ) can still be pulled back from the brink of utter disaster . But time is pressing and it is only now that the international community has fully appreciated the danger of the situation . The U.N. Security Council is next week expected to vote , authorizing the deployment of a reinforced peacekeeping force under the banner of the African Union or , potentially , the U.N. itself . Meanwhile , France , which already has 400 troops in the CAR , has announced the dispatch of a further 800-1000 , to work alongside African peacekeepers . Read more : France to send 1,000 more troops to Central African Republic . Until recently the CAR had not been a priority focus of concern , even within Africa . By contrast , Mali shot right to the top of the agenda when its northern regions were taken over by jihadist armed groups in March-April last year . Yet even then , it took many months of diplomacy to secure U.N. Security Council endorsement of African and , ultimately , French military intervention to tackle the crisis . Read more : Fighting surges in northern Mali . The CAR is rather less well placed to grab global attention . As its name suggests , the country lies at the very heart of the African continent , away from major trade routes and population centers , and very far indeed from public attention . With only 4.5 million people but a territory the size of France it matters in strategic terms but has rarely hit the headlines , at least not since the dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa proclaimed himself emperor back in the 1970s -- a story of almost picturesque caricature that distracted attention from the harsh underlying reality of poverty , isolation and incompetent government . Chronic instability . The country has slid into its present condition of almost complete state collapse , leaving free rein to looting and murderous rebel groups , partly because the outside world did not perceive its earlier condition of chronic instability and political weakness as a risk to Africa or even the region as a whole . For many years the CAR 's persistent problems have been a sad humanitarian story , with a daunting incidence of diseases such as malaria , HIV/AIDS and sleeping sickness , and depressingly high rates of child mortality and malnutrition . Even before the present crisis , life expectancy , at just 48 years , was the second lowest in the world . But in spite of these dismal health and development conditions , the CAR 's problems impinged little on neighboring states -- other than occasional localized movements of refugees into remote fringe regions of Cameroon , Chad or Democratic Republic of Congo . Over recent years the then president , François Bozizé -- who himself originally came to power through rebellion in 2003 , before repackaging himself through a democratic election -- found himself confronting a string of rebel uprisings . These were fueled by local grievances , the ambitions of disgruntled warlords and faction leaders and the heavy-handed tactics of Bozizé 's presidential guard . Peace-keeping . Through a peace process hosted by Gabon and the presence of a small peacekeeping force , African neighbors attempted to contain these problems and nudge the CAR towards a consensual domestic settlement . In January this year a respected human rights lawyer , Nicolas Tiangaye , was appointed as a neutral prime minister . But some faction leaders stayed out of this peace process , combining their forces to launch a military campaign to depose Bozizé . As this rebel movement , Seleka , advanced south towards the capital , Bangui , government forces crumbled , while South African troops sent to help Bozizé suffered defeat with heavy casualties . The president fled and Seleka leader Michel Djotodia proclaimed himself head of state . But almost immediately he found his authority disintegrating . Read more : CAR president fled to Cameroon . The kernel of Seleka are native Central Africans , mostly from the country 's northern Muslim minority . But many of the rebellion 's fighters were foreigners , particularly from Darfur , in Sudan , and from Chad . They expected to be rewarded for their efforts -- but Djotodia had found no cash to pay them . Faction commanders turned on the civilian population instead , engaging in months of looting and brutal violence , and seizing local resources such as diamonds -- which are mined in several areas of the CAR . Their brutality towards the largely Christian population sparked the latter into forming self-defense groups -- who have taken revenge on local Muslim communities with whom they peacefully co-existed before . Meanwhile , the state has stood by powerless , lacking the military and political means to bring a halt to this deepening crisis -- or the practical resources to help civilians . It is this spiral of state collapse and spreading violence that the new reinforced African and French deployment hopes to halt . Read more : U.S. must act now . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul Melly .
A coalition of rebel groups deposed the Central African Republic 's president in March . Since the , 0.4 million people have been displaced and a million are dependent on aid . Reports of inter - communal violence have sparked fears of a shift into religious conflict . France is sending 1,000 troops to join 400 already deployed in the African continent .