French President Francois Hollande arrived late Tuesday 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 Re pubic capital from Johannesburg where he had attended a memorial service for anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.

French troops killed 19 Islamist militants during an army operation in Mali's rebel-infested northern desert on Tuesday, a French military source told Agence France Presse, as the country prepared to stage nationwide elections.

The violence comes with Malians due to vote on Sunday in a second round of parliamentary polls supposed to mark the west African nation's first steps to recovery after it was plunged into chaos by a military coup in March last year.

French President Francois Hollande was expected Tuesday in the Central African Republic, on the second day of an operation to disarm rogue rebels that has already killed two French soldiers.

As the poverty-stricken country's former colonial master led the military effort to restore order after a year of chaos, Washington said it was offering to fly in African peacekeepers.

France should post economic growth of 0.5 percent in the last quarter of this year, the central bank said Monday, citing a "clear" rise in manufacturing and deliveries in most sectors.

The Bank of France had initially predicted 0.4 percent growth during this period.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday he would meet boxing champion turned Ukrainian opposition leader Vitali Klitschko for talks in Paris on Wednesday.

"I will officially receive Mr. Klitschko at the Quai d'Orsay (foreign ministry headquarters) on Wednesday," Fabius told France 3 television, as hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians rallied in Kiev for a new protest aimed at forcing President Viktor Yanukovych from power.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Sunday that nearly 400 people were killed in the last three days in violence in the Central African Republic capital Bangui, but that calm had returned.

"We have counted 394 dead in the last three days. Calm has returned to Bangui even if there are still some abuses here and there," Fabius told France 3 television.

French troops deployed in the strife-torn Central African Republic on Saturday, while the African Union said it would nearly double its force to try to stamp out deadly sectarian violence.

Cheering residents honked horns, danced and banged on saucepans as some 200 French troops rolled into the mainly Christian town of Bouar in the west of the country.

France on Saturday committed itself to helping establish and finance a pan-African military force capable of intervening in crises like the current conflict in the Central African Republic.

A two-day summit attended by leaders of all but a handful of African states, concluded with French President Francois Hollande pledging to help the African Union turn its plans for a rapid reaction force, agreed in principle earlier this year, into a functioning unit by 2015

All 1,200 French troops pledged for a U.N.-mandated force in the violence-hit Central African Republic have now deployed, France's defense ministry said Saturday.

"We are 24 hours ahead of schedule with the total deployment," a ministry official said, after a 200-strong contingent of reinforcements crossed the border from neighboring Cameroon on Saturday.

Under pressure from France, African leaders were set Saturday to approve the acceleration of moves to create a military force capable of intervening in crises like the current conflict in Central African Republic.

A two-day summit attended by leaders of all but a handful of African states was expected to wrap up with broad agreement on France's proposals to turn plans for an African Union rapid reaction force, agreed in principle earlier this year, into reality.