France has warned that the growing presence of Russian military advisors and weapons in the Central African Republic could exacerbate tensions in the war-torn nation.

The statement comes after a rebel leader demanded Russia explain the presence of its “mercenaries” in the country.

A French colony until 1960 and one of the poorest countries in the world, the CAR has suffered from fighting since 2013, when mostly Muslim rebels overthrew the government but were pushed back by Christian militias.

The United Nations Security Council allowed Russia in 2017 to begin delivering arms to the country's new Christian president, and Moscow sent 175 instructors to train CAR troops earlier this year. The president's personal guard is now reportedly made up largely of Russians.

Last week Moscow said it would send more arms and instructors in the greatest show of influence in Africa since Soviet times.

“Africa belongs to Africans and no one else, no more to the Russians than the French,” French defence minister Florence Parly told the weekly Jeune Afrique. “Russia has asserted its presence in the Central African Republic in recent months, it is true, but I am not sure that this presence and the actions deployed by Moscow, like the agreements negotiated in Khartoum at the end of August, help to stabilise the country.”