Rebels re-enter Central Africa town -- French army

PARIS, Mar 3 (Reuters) Rebel forces entered the Central African Republic town of Birao today, but government soldiers and a small detachment of French soldiers remained in the town, France's defence ministry said.

France in December sent special forces backed by helicopters and fighter jets to dislodge rebel fighters from Birao and a large swathe of its former colony, and has maintained forces in and around the town since.

''The rebels entered Birao this morning. As far as we know the Central African army forces garrison is still present in Birao and there is a small detachment of French soldiers who are also there and who were not threatened,'' Christophe Prazuck, a Defence Ministry official, told Reuters in Paris.

He declined to give details of how many French soldiers were on site and said he could not confirm whether there had been any firing of weapons.

Central African Republic army forces ''are still there, they have not abandoned the town. The town has not been taken,'' he said.

Government officials could not be reached for immediate comment in the country's capital Bangui. Diplomats in Bangui say the poorly equipped government army has full control of as little as 2 percent of the country, which is larger than mainland France.

The deeply impoverished, landlocked country has been racked by years of instability with a series of coups, army mutinies and rebel uprisings, especially in the northwest where over the past 18 months government troops have burned dozens of villages suspected of aiding rebels opposed to President Francois Bozize.

In a campaign starting last October a new rebel group known as the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR) captured the remote town of Birao and various settlements in the sparsely populated northeast of the country.

Analysts have linked the UFDR campaign to the conflict raging across the nearby border with Sudan's western Darfur region, and the Bangui government accused Sudan of aiding the rebels.

Sudan has long opposed United Nations proposals to send a robust peacekeeping force to Darfur to help end years of violence there, and the Security Council has considered sending troops to Central African Republic and northern neighbour Chad to prevent further violence spilling over from Darfur.

Last week United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon recommended peace operations which could involve sending up to 11,000 troops and helicopter gunships to Chad and Central African Republic.

Almost all the troops would be in Chad, where the United Nations estimates there are some 230,000 refugees from Darfur as well as 120,000 Chadians forced from their homes by violence.

REUTERS SY RAI2152