(Reuters) - Heavy and small arms fire rang out in the capital of Central African Republic on Thursday, the heaviest clashes in Bangui for months, hours before a U.N. vote is due to authorise a French mission to restore order.

Former rebels controlling the city scrambled fighters in the direction of the gunfire and said they had come under attack from local militia and fighters loyal to ousted President Francois Bozize. In the pre-dawn hours, panicked residents scrambled for safety.

The U.N. Security Council is due to vote later on Thursday on dispatching French reinforcements to restore order in the country, which has slipped into chaos since mainly Muslim rebels seized power in March, leading to tit-for-tat sectarian violence.

"There has been gunfire all over town," Amy Martin, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Bangui, told Reuters.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/12/05/uk-centralafrican-fighting-idUKBRE9B405O20131205