French President Francois Hollande has arrived in curfew-bound Bangui, where two French soldiers were killed hours earlier during an operation to disarm rogue rebels.
Accompanied by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, Hollande flew to the Central African Republic capital from Johannesburg, where he had attended a memorial service for anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.
The first losses of the French campaign to pacify its former colony underlined the risks involved in a complex mission to disarm fighters who have plunged the impoverished country into chaos.
The French leader took a moment to bow before the coffins of the two fallen soldiers.