The African Union (AU) on Friday authorized the deployment of a larger peacekeeping force for Central African Republic (CAR) to help stabilize the security situation there.

The AU's decision-making body, the Peace and Security Council (PSC), said after a meeting here that starting from August 1, an existing regional mission called MICOPAX will be rolled into a larger peacekeeping mission, the African-led International Support Mission in CAR (AFISM-CAR).

AU Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra told reporters that the new mission will be "larger and hopefully stronger with all the resources that it needs to accomplish efficiently its mandate."

AU officials said AFISM-CAR will have a strength of 3,652 people, of which 3,500 are uniformed personnel and the rest civilians.

The countries in the sub-region have reached a commitment of 2, 000, and the AU will call on its member states to contribute and fill the gap.

"There is still a gap of 1600; the gap is supposed to be filled thanks to contributions from the rest of the continent of Africa, beyond the region," Lamamra said.

"So, we'll immediately be informing whole the membership of the AU of this decision, calling for volunteering countries to express themselves and to specify what kind of contribution they intend to make."

He also highlighted the positive role AFISM-CAR plays for peace and security in CAR, the region, and beyond, calling for "additional contribution of troops and police from other African countries in addition to the regional countries," and financial and logistics support from the European Union, the United Nations, and other international partners.

In a separate decision, the AU also decided to extend the mandate of the UN-AU hybrid mission in Darfur, or UNAMID, beyond the end of July, when its current mandate expires.

It strongly condemned the attacks on peacekeepers, particularly the recent deadly attack on UNAMID peacekeepers on July 13.

According to AU officials, the meeting also discussed the elections to be held in several AU member states, including Zimbabwe, Mali, Togo, and Madagascar.

AU Commissioner for Political Affairs Aisha Abdullahi said that the AU has deployed its long-term observation mission in Zimbabwe, where a general election will be held on July 31, and that a short- term mission will also be deployed.

In a communique issued after the meeting, the AU said it welcomed the generally peaceful and calm political atmosphere in the run-up to the elections in Zimbabwe.

It also commended Zimbabwe on a successful referendum and the coming into force of new constitution.

"The council further welcomes the expressed commitment to peaceful elections by all the stakeholders in the country and urges all of them to positively contribute to holding of free, fair and transparent elections on 31 July 2013," said the communique.