UN Security Council Approves Peacekeeping Force in CAR

African and French troops to participate

Bossangoa, Central African Republic (CNN) -- Months after a coup escalated chaos and violence in the Central African Republic, the U.N. Security Council Thursday unanimously approved the deployment of African and French forces there.

The council also voted to impose an arms embargo on the Central African Republic, which is located east of Cameroon and north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A representative of the Central African Republic told the council the vote would "give reasons to hope for a new dawn" for the country's embattled population.