ANTOINE ROLLAND PANIC has gripped the streets of Central African Republic's capital Bangui with businesses closing and people holing up in their homes as the country braced for a general election that has stoked the embers of violence. Rwanda and Russia have sent military aid to help the government restore calm as security forces and United Nations peacekeepers battle rebels who have occupied towns and roads outside the capital. Russia, seeking to increase its influence in Africa, is an ally of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, a relationship often seen as a threat to the influence of former colonial power France in…