France on Tuesday said other European nations would send troops to the Central African Republic to prop up a military force on the ground attempting to disarm militias dispensing deadly violence.

France on Tuesday said other European nations would send troops to the Central African Republic to prop up a military force on the ground attempting to disarm militias dispensing deadly violence.

The United Nations says some 210,000 people have been displaced in the capital Bangui alone in two weeks of unrest, and France at the weekend called for more help from its European partners to assist its 1,600 troops on the ground.

"We will soon have troops on the ground provided by our European colleagues," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told the lower house of parliament in Paris, without naming the countries.

In Brussels, a Belgian military source told AFP that the government was considering the dispatch of some 150 troops for "a protection mission".

The source, who asked not to be identified, said the troops might be deployed to secure airports, including in Bangui.

The Spanish government, meanwhile, has okayed plans to send a Hercules military transport aircraft with a "maintenance and support unit" of up to 60 personnel, which will apparently go to parliament for approval on Wednesday.

But it is not likely to include combat troops.

It is as yet unclear whether other countries will also be assisting France on the ground, other than providing logistical help.

Central Africa has spiralled into chaos since a March coup by the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel group overthrew President Francois Bozize.

France deployed its troops to the impoverished and notoriously unstable country on December 5 under a UN mandate to support an African peacekeeping force that had been struggling to quell the violence.