Phnom Penh, Oct 14 (IANS) Cambodia will send the first batch of 216 military personnel to join a UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) later this month, a military official has revealed.

According to Gen. Sem Sovanny, director-general of the Cambodian National Center for Peacekeeping Force, some 20 leading forces of the group left Cambodia for the CAR Monday afternoon to prepare shelters for the whole group, who will fly there Oct 23.

"The group will conduct humanitarian activities in the Central African Republic, including demining, constructing roads and bridges, producing drinking water and providing medical treatment to civilians," Xinhua quoted him as saying.

A civil war in the CAR broke out in December 2012 between mostly Muslim Seleka rebels and the government forces. Seleka rebels took power from then president Francois Bozize in March 2013 and the rebels' leader Michel Djotodia declared himself as president.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the country, and 2.2 million, about half the population, need humanitarian aid in the sectarian conflict.

Sporadic violence has continued to plague the CAR despite Michel Djotodia 's resignation from the presidency in January and the formation of a transition government led by Catherine Samba-Panza.