France's African war?

Desolate, remote, brutalised.A land that's fended for itself for thirty years.

It's a desolate remote and brutalised land - a place that's fended for itself for thirty years. Few outsiders set foot in the forgotten north of the forgotten Central African Republic.

Yet life endures here, caught between the turmoil of Chad and genocide of Darfur, and cursed with chaos of its own. Rape's so universal and unpunished across this country the war crimes court in the Hague has had to investigate it.

Yet life endures here, caught between the turmoil of Chad and genocide of Darfur, and cursed with chaos of its own. Rape's so universal and unpunished across this country the war crimes court in the Hague has had to investigate it.

And as if that wasn't enough, it's a country were parts of it are held by two different rebel groups. Security's so precarious here, the UN are only just about able to operate, as they discuss a peace deal, with rebels in their stronghold - the UFDR. And their leader, general Zakaria Daman.

They have few arms between them, and by all accounts fewer rules. One of their most plentiful assets are children.As part of the peace deal, the general's agreed to release 450 of them to aid agency UNICEF.

Yet they're hardly demob happy. Perhaps it's their troubled past, or the uncertainty of their future. It's a childhood you could spend the rest of your life recovering from.

We met one boy, dressed in camouflage, who claims he's 16. Stuttering, terrified, he said shot dead two government troops just three months ago.

"When I shot them, my head span. I fell down and passed out." - Ahamad

Two years of this army's war, scarring even his dreams:

"Whenever I fall sleep I have nightmares. I see the heads of the dead, without their bodies."

Volatile as the area is, much is made of these children's liberation. Dignitaries flying in to witness this first act of good faith from the rebels.

Despite these celebrations it has been touch and go here up until the last moment, which we could tell by the awkward body language. It almost fell apart at the last minute because of disarmament and there are still many rebel soldiers here. But they have achieved one thing, which is to bring these boy soldiers out of the rebel army and now turn them into schoolchildren.

The promise is of an education, a return home, or even new beginning. And at the least, a chance to get out of uniform.

But their old masters still call the shots here. So the aftermath is much more complicated. Just a few hours after the ceremony, the boy we interviewed is back in his old military gear. He says he doesn't want to go home. But join the army, and become minister of defence.

This African civil war have been mostly ignored in the West. But unlike other conflicts, a Western power has definitively taken a side. A strong-arm intervention that's proven controversial.

The boys we spoke to shared one experience. A story barely heard in the West, but alive in these boys' drawings.The fight for the northern town of Birao, this March - and how the French used jets to bomb their rebel army.

"We were afraid as we don't have any arms to kill the Mirages. They used bombs - BOOM! "

So we headed north for Birao. On the way we saw a landscape of anarchy, ruin and rape. One - that in the village of Massabo - is beginning to resemble the bloodshed of neighbouring Darfur.

Raiders on horseback came here in February, killing 56 - torched homes and graves all that remains. Locals say they were Janjaweed from Sudan - the same armed men blamed for genocide in Darfur.

Some horror here is homegrown - like rape. We met one woman who said her baby was conceived, she says, when two rebels held her down for third to rape her.

"I was abandoned by my husband, so have no money but must raise this child somehow. I have to borrow food and clothing. I can't complain about what happened as the people who did it are also in charge here."

A common crime spoken of by women in this village. At the mercy of rebels who answer to General Daman. We met the General and asked if his men were behind these rapes. But he said it wasn't government or rebel troops, but children from another town.

As we head north, it's clear this violence has put an entire region on the move.

Toby Lanzer, Resident co-ordinator, UN spoke to us about it saying:

"We have the highest proportion of a population of any country in the world displaced over the last 12 months here. 300,000 people who have been churned out of their villages.

"What I saw when I got to Birao reminded me very much of what I saw when I reached Grozny at the turn of the century. I mean, it was a town that had been almost entirely levelled. 90 or even 95 per cent of the town's population was no longer living there.

"I think it was with shock and horror that we witnessed the aftermath of what must have been a very very severe battle."

The rebels first stormed through here on March 3rd, ten French soldiers were caught up in the fight. So the French flew in dozens of reinforcements supporting a quick - and many here say brutal - counter-attack by government troops.

They also burned and killed - seeking vengeance, some say. A mosque was burned down, locals say, after government troops dragged four men into the street, asked no questions and then executed them as rebel sympathisers.

Another three men were killed in this compound also by government troops, for the same reasons. At the time, it was used by aid agency Medicins Sans Frontiers.

Elsewhere, locals also speak of the ferocity of the French response. This man is the village chief. He says he watched two French jets fly three sorties over the MSF compound. He says he was metres from here when he saw one jet drop something that enveloped this house in flames - and it left walls entact.

Another eyewitness gave exactly the same account. A huge ball of flames. Witnesses call it an incendiary bomb. Although no-one died in these flames, if the French used one on a civilian area like this, they'd probably be breaching several arms treaties.

They categorically deny doing so, or bombing anywhere in Birao.

Medicins Sans Frontiers declined to comment on the incident. At the time they were the only foreign aid agency operative in the area, and these allegations will add to questions already being asked about French conduct here, and their support for the government army.

Human Rights Watch told us France would lose credibility in leading international action over Darfur, if it doesn't speak out about abuses here - by an allied army it's training and supporting.

The local commander of government troops denied accusations of execution and rape. His rations spell out the links between local and French troops. But their commander also said local troops didn't attack civilians.

"In a military action, collateral damage is possible. I wasn't here to see any. But there was no voluntary action against the population." - Commandante Christophe Baure - French Parachutist Regiment

Now, in this fragile peace, what little community there is, is in collapse. We met one woman who has malaria and is eight months pregnant. She came from 25 kilometres away, only to find no medicine in this hospital to help her. Her husband looks on, powerless.

That day, a UN team land, to see if what can be done to fill the vacuum left here by conflict. This airport might help get aid to neighbouring Darfur or send in peacekeepers to secure this country's borders. They're met by the French, who'd lead this presence, even as questions over their past conduct remain.

The French want to lead the way, and today top diplomats met in Paris to try and work together before this country earns the moniker of the new Darfur.For some though, no intervention now is enough.

As we leave Birao, we pass the funeral cortege of the pregnant woman with malaria. She died seven hours after we saw her.

A people that can no longer afford to wait for help, or choose who gives it.

Nick Paton Walsh, Channel Four News, Birao

Medicins Sans Frontiers statement

Since the report was broadcast, Medicins Sans Frontiers have contacted us and asked that we publish this statement, from their mission to the Central African Republic, next to our report. We are happy to do this.

"During the fighting in Birao the weekend of Saturday and Sunday 3/4 March 2007, our national and international team hibernated together in the shared compound, most of the time in the house of the international staff. There are two houses right next to each other within the same compound.

On Sunday morning, during a pause in the fighting, our compound caught fire. First the fence on two sides of the compound and the shower and latrine area between the houses burned down completely, then the grass roof of the house of our national staff caught fire and burned down as well.

Luckily, the team was then able to extinguish the fire and therefore avoid, that it took over to the house of the international staff. A strong wind was blowing that morning. Our team saw from our compound, that about 10 houses in the immediate neighbourhood were burning as well.

The fence on the other side of the compound caught fire shortly afterwards, and luckily the team was again able to extinguish it before further damage could be done to the house that remained. That day, many houses were burned in Birao. The majority of the population fled town Sunday morning.

On Wednesday 7 March, our team of national and international staff was evacuated to Bangui with a MSF plane for debriefings and rest. The team returned to Birao shortly after, to resume full medical activities.

During the fighting on Saturday 3rd March the driver of the rented car we used, was shot dead close to our compound. We regret his tragic death and again express our condolences to his family."

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