Central Africa's prime minister on Monday appointed a new government to pull the deeply divided country out of crisis, incorporating both Christian militias and supporters of the mainly Muslim Seleka rebellion.

Andre Nzapayeke's transitional government faces the daunting task of ending the bloodshed, restoring the operations of a state whose coffers are empty and whose employees have gone months without pay, and organizing general elections by February 2015.

The United Nations was expected on Tuesday to adopt a resolution imposing sanctions against those who foment violence in the crisis-wracked Central African Republic, a French official said Monday.

Meanwhile, troops of an African peacekeeping force known as MISCA were escorting out of Bangui former rebels of the mainly Muslim coalition that seized power in March last year, according to residents and a senior human rights observer.

The Central African Republic's new prime minister said Sunday his priority will be stopping the massacres and other atrocities that have shaken the country for months.

Speaking the day after he was named premier by interim president Catherine Samba Panza -- herself only in office since Thursday -- former banking official Andre Nzapayeke said ending the violence between Christians and Muslims was the key to restoring security and a functioning state.

The Central African Republic's new interim president, Catherine Samba Panza, on Saturday named an official at the Development Bank of Central African States, Andre Nzapayeke, to be her prime minister, a national radio report said.

Nzapayeke, who is little-known in the crisis-torn Central African Republic, will be tasked with forming a government to end months of Christian-Muslim violence and restore a functioning state to the impoverished country.

The U.S. military's partnership with France in Africa is "indispensable" in the fight against extremist groups in the Sahel region, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Friday.

During a visit to Washington, Le Drian said "terrorist groups are circulating across the whole Sahara-Sahel area and terrorist acts could put our own security at risk."

The new president of the Central African Republic set to work Friday to choose members of a government capable of ending horrific inter-religious violence and bringing order to the country.

A day after being sworn in before the Constitutional Court, Catherine Samba Panza took up residence in the presidential palace in the capital Bangui, which saw more looting overnight and was being patrolled by foreign troops.

Central African Republic's new interim president Catherine Samba Panza was sworn in Thursday, tasked with ending horrific sectarian violence and tackling a massive humanitarian crisis.

The World Bank has pledged to raise $100 million (73 million euro) to help kickstart the paralyzed state, one of many daunting challenges facing the country's first female president.

Catherine Samba Panza, who was sworn in Thursday as interim president of the crisis-wracked Central African Republic, has both a reputation for toughness and experience of bringing foes together through dialogue.

Among eight candidates, the transitional parliament voted decisively for the 59-year-old mayor of Bangui to take charge of a nation that has plunged into inter-religious strife that touched off a major humanitarian crisis.

At least 10 people were killed in fresh clashes Wednesday in the conflict-riven Central African Republic capital, witnesses said, just two days after new leader Catherine Samba-Panza appealed for peace.

Violence pitting civilians and Christian militiamen against ex-Seleka fighters broke out overnight in central Bangui, near a prison and a military barracks housing the former rebels, they told Agence France Presse.

The mayor of Bangui, Catherine Samba-Panza, was elected interim president of the Central African Republic on Monday, as the European Union agreed to send hundreds of troops to help restore peace to the country torn by sectarian bloodshed.

Samba-Panza, a businesswoman with a reputation as a fighter who became mayor of the capital in 2011, was elected in a second-round vote by the transitional parliament, becoming the chronically unstable country's first woman leader.