France investigates alleged child abuse by its troops in Central Africa
The prosecutors' office said in a statement it had decided to open the investigation after written consultation with the author of a United Nations report which first raised the allegations.
A preliminary investigation was opened last July based on the U.N report detailing the alleged abuse between December 2013 and June 2014 at a centre for displaced people at M?Poko airport in the capital Bangui.
(Reporting by Chine Labbe; writing by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Andrew Callus)