France on Thursday called for authorities in the Central African Republic to make an example of soldiers who carried out the public lynching of a suspected ex-rebel.

"France condemns the heinous acts that followed the assembly of parts of the Central African armed forces," French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.

"These abuses call for a punishment that sets an example," he said.

The soldiers lynched the man immediately after a military ceremony in the capital Bangui on Wednesday, beating and stabbing him before dragging his lifeless body through the streets, dismembering him and setting him on fire.

The gruesome attack, widely captured on camera, happened moments after new interim president Catherine Samba Panza spoke of her pride in seeing the country's armed forces contribute to national security again.

The UN envoy to the Central African Republic, Babacar Gaye, has also called for those behind the lynching to be "punished and made an example of".

France has 1,600 soldiers deployed in CAR under a United Nations mandate to assist African troops in quelling sectarian unrest that erupted after a coup last year.