 Good afternoon everybody. I can ask you to take your seats Good afternoon. My name is Nancy Lindborg I'm the president here at the U.S. Institute of Peace and I'm delighted to welcome everybody here for a very special address If you are tuning in online You can join the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag Tuadera USIP which you can see on the screen behind me We're very honored to have with us this afternoon the president of the Central African Republic President Faustan Arcan Tuadero President was last here at USIP in 2016 Mr.. President welcome back to the Institute. We're delighted to have you here. I also We commend him for coming today. I'd like to expend Extend a special welcome as well to President Tuadera's delegation Including mr.. Felix Malwa who's the Minister of Economy Planning and International Cooperation Mr.. Henri Marie Dondra who's the Minister of Finance and Budget Madame Marie Noel Cognara who's the Minister of National Defense welcome We're delighted to host you again Madame Sylvie Bipo Timon who's the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Central Africans Abroad and Monsieur Ambassador Marshall Dubu who's the ambassador of the Central Africa Republic to the United States Welcome to all of the delegation Like to also give a special welcome to the US ambassador to Central Africa Republic Lucy Tamlin Delighted to have you there and here with us today When you walked into the lobby today, I hope you had a chance to see the quote on the wall From Eleanor Roosevelt that reads it isn't enough to talk about peace You have to believe in it and it isn't enough to believe in it. You have to work at it This is very much the foundational idea of the US Institute of Peace. We were founded by Congress in 1984 As an independent nonpartisan national Institute Dedicated to preventing and resolving International conflicts and we do this by linking research with policy recommendations Training and education and working with partners who are themselves Seeking to prevent and resolve violent conflict on the front lines where it exists And one of the places that we do this is in Central Africa Republic US IP has been involved with Central Africa Republic for more than three years One of the things we've done is to hold community dialogues on security issues in a way that helps citizens Speak to their government on what their concerns are and in fact when I visited car in 2016 President to our Dara very graciously met with several members young members of the community dialogue group Who were able to express directly to him their concerns and walked away deeply inspired so once again? I thank the president for having taken that meeting Most recently we've helped to support the economic community of Central African states Efforts to prepare for the peace negotiations and to encourage the Implementation of the agreement which I know everyone is eager to hear more about today In February of this year the car government Achieved a very important milestone by signing a peace agreement with 14 of the country's armed groups These negotiations were conducted by the African Union and the UN and they're the 8th attempt at a peace agreement since the current crisis began in 2012 and Signing this agreement President to our Dara and the gut his government have signaled their commitment to ending the Profound humanitarian crisis the injustice and the violence that has torn this country apart Leaving 20% of their population Displaced either as refugees or internally displaced and a humanitarian crisis with acute food insecurity So the agreement has faced challenges since its signing and it has been contested by some groups Who are waiting to see whether the agreement delivers on its promises? President to our Dara faces the dual challenge of delivering on the peace agreement and Advancing the car national recovery and peace building plan which sets out the government's priorities and its vision for partnership with the international community and Doing all of this against continuing complex Conflict dynamics and a lot of regional politics We also know the international community has the opportunity to hinder or help as car looks forward to a more peaceful future This has been a country that has struggled with complicated conflict for decades since its independence and to emerge from these cycles of Conflict it will take concerted partnerships between Central Africa Republic the government its people and the full array of regional and international partners President to our Dara we have here in the room with us today many of the Dedicated and most knowledgeable people about Central Africa Republic many who have been the most vocal supporters about Keeping Central Africa and Republic on the agenda who care deeply about peace and about the future of your country thank you everybody for joining us here today and After president to our Dara's remarks. We'll have a short conversation joined by Ambassador Tamlin and Ambassador Johnny Carson No cards have been passed out for you to write your questions on we'll take your questions as well as on Twitter in the Conversation and with that I'm very pleased to hand things over to Ambassador Tamlin who will provide a more formal introduction of President to our Dara Ambassador Tamlin was sworn in as the US Ambassador to the Central Africa Republic in January of this year So she's taking her post at a very pivotal and important moment She's a career member of the senior Foreign Service and she most recently Prior to this post was the ambassador to the Republic of Benin But she's also served in South Sudan Portugal Chad France and Iraq So she brings a lot of experience with conflict and great knowledge of the region Please join me in welcoming Ambassador Tamlin to the stage President to our Dara President Lindborg members of the Washington community who have come in such great numbers today What a fantastic manifestation of the strong ties between the United States and the Central African Republic It is my honor and privilege to introduce his Excellency Professor Faustin Archange to our Dara President of the Central African Republic President to our Dara was born and raised in the Central African Republic attended the University of Bangui and earned a doctorate in mathematics in 1986 from the University of Leo and a second doctorate in mathematics in 2004 from the University of Yaoundé He left his post as rector of the University of Bangui to serve as prime minister for five years under President Francois Bozise and was elected president in 2016 in the elections following the transitional government of Madame Catherine Samba-Ponza There are at least two things which I think are important to know about President to our Dara The first is that in the Central African tradition. He retains his title of professor President to our Dara is in fact famous and beloved for having continued to teach mathematics at the University during the period that he served as prime minister Love of education and the desire to help the next generation is part of his DNA The second thing which I think is important to know is the significance of President to our Dara's election In 2016 the Central African Republic was still reeling from the violence that had led to thousands of deaths and Hundreds of thousands have displaced Holding elections was a Herculean task But in a country which has often been ignored and overlooked It was shown they given an opportunity the people will mobilize and they will vote their conscience car may lack for much But one thing is clear the people have given President to our Dara a mandate to lead and A mandate to work to improve the country's future We are very pleased to welcome him here to Washington and to underscore the warm and friendly relations between our two countries and Our shared hopes for that better future Thank you and President to our Dara. I'm very happy to give you the floor It's a G de la paix Je viens donc parler Partagé le rêve de paix que nourrit le peuple Centro africain dans toute sa diversité je suis devant vous pour porter la voie de mes compatriotes To you the folks of my fellow citizens who have decided to open together to turn a new page of our history Je voudrais aussi remercier I would also like to very sincerely thank U.S.I.P.E. for the particular interest it bears to my country and that is shown by this meeting we are holding ladies and gentlemen Since the signature on February 6th of the peace agreement And the reconciliation and representation and reconstruction new prospects a new effort is permitted My intention present my current intention is to share with you my vision for peace in central african republic by recalling where we are coming from where we are today and giving you an idea of The future that we want to offer to our people ladies and gentlemen In the central african republic we are coming out of a long painful crisis Whose duration and the damages incurred are awful since 2012 There has been incredible violence without precedent Fed by slogans fed by hate and exclusion and this seriously undermined social cohesion imperiled the unity of the country and threatened the foundations of the state at A certain point my country became a cliche of hate That would be almost predictable between Christians and Muslims That is an erroneous way to look at the situation as Lived by the central africans We thought We talked about this during the national forum in May 2015 In starting my term of office. I made an oath to my people in the face of the vast challenges and the emergency of the national situation I swore to emphasize foundational actions for Reconstruction So I announced that I would spend all my energy To win the wager of peace and security to reconcile my people through justice and truth in order to be able to sustainably Launch a plan for the recovery of society and the economy The peace the path to peace went through dialogue between The car and the 14 armed groups in the country It is in this framework That this African initiative for peace and reconciliation saw the light under the aegis of the African Union By ensuring the that basic principles were observed These being the respect of the Constitution of 2016 the respect for the legitimate elections of 2015 and 2016 and the preservation of the territorial integrity of the Central African Republic several meetings took place with the armed groups and With social and political actors to pave the way towards the dialogue that was held in cartoon the discussions Involved everything that affected the crisis without any taboos and The compromise that were obtained that was that seemed fair gave to my fellow citizens the this political agreement for peace and Reconciliation and this agreement was signed on February 6 2019 It is the true Manifestation of this common will to turn the page on this bloody history It shows that this process Would not have been such a great success if all the partners of the Central African Republic and Including the United States and organizations such as US IP Which played a discrete role, but very important role Ladies and gentlemen We are at the stage of implementation for this agreement It was strengthened by the last compromise that was agreed on on March 19 18th 2019 in Addis Ababa We have disagreement which is a powerful tool Each of the words within it Were the subject of a compromise of By the parties it is a true jewel that will reform the social fabric that was very much undermined by discriminations of various types exclusion Taking advantage of the crisis the culture of impunity and poor gestion of the public finances For this jewel we must keep in mind that the success of the agreement requires from all parties efforts to strengthen the relations of trust among them to Allow us to surmount all obstacles More than ever I am determined to mobilize my fellow citizens from all walks of life so that this agreement Created together be implemented together and Aware that the dialogue of cartoon So that it's not just one more dialogue the parties took one more commitment and it was detailed in the two appendices They took on 21 commitments the government Showed its determination to improve the conditions for the consolation of peace the armed groups took on ten commitments to show their adherence to the peace process the recognition of the urgency of stopping the hostilities Against civilians the respect of constitutional order the respect of elected institutions and territorial integrity In accordance with the agreement everything will be done To resolve these conflicts and to give greater place to the strength of arguments But not to let the argument of force proper prosper we must and These reprehensible behaviors The socially inadmissible behaviors that have contributed to the weakening of the state the objective of peace in my country requires that We invest in the consolidation of the democratic culture Make a change to political practices so that violence is no longer a shortcut To getting a political role in the Republic In a sense actions will be led such a revising the law on political parties So that they actually promote these values of peace and cohesion it will also be a question of working on the establishment of a Law on the status of a former head of state to it'll be Impersonal but it will ensure a decent life of former former dignitaries and I will encourage a Leaving power in decent conditions the promotion of human rights and a peace a culture of peace. These are major actions to make this The unity of the pay the country real a unity based on on Unity and this will be based on Consultations that will be peaceful and we will have sound elections My deep conviction is that the rules of good governance that come out of the harmonious political consensus will create an environment that Secures all and reassures everyone No, another item is the DD our national program Which will help to end the violence? Among all the groups that have committed because they will take part in this process We want this process to be well led and to be efficient and functional to support this process We will have so security sector reform and we will have optimal Conditions for the reforming of the security and defense forces some of the new elements will come from the armed groups After they have completed the certification The certification was established by the eutm and menusca From this with this dynamic approach to global security the agreement Has made it possible to move forward by confronting basic questions such as demigration of cattle which has become a problem for insecurity by Managing things for this issue. We want to engage our partners our neighboring countries to act in a Cooperative manner to manage this issue which has security implications In terms of relations between communities on the national level and also at the sub regional level the agreement Made a first step towards a solution through the compromise on the establishment of mixed security units joint security units To work on appeasement and improving security With regard to transhumans within the country and with neighboring countries And looking at the crisis in Central African Republic there has been an equitable distribution of national resources and Economic issues are very significant factors in this crisis The result is that the agreement if it is to be sustainable There has to be also solutions that focus on the economic problems if the agreement is Is to help us to truly rebuild our country and restore peace then we must also focus on The goal of establishing a minimum vital salary or subsistence wages and in many of our areas of our country we are a lot we are starting urgent development Projects for social and infrastructure projects for basic needs Young people need to be able to find new opportunities and perspectives with this agreement because they lack hope women in Central Africa Republic must feel that they play also a pivotal role in society and that this role is Recognized through their empowerment projects or economic development projects and their contributions peace will be even more Easy to achieve once we have been able to tackle the issues of poverty And we've been able to tackle the issues of violence that is being committed by people who are actually lacking in hope and Don't have any other prospects and because of this we need to make sure that if people have a chance to succeed That this is going to be a concrete step towards helping to reduce the use of weapons Ladies and gentlemen The scars left by the violence that we experienced in in car are very deep indeed The numerous victims continue to suffer They suffer greatly from this violence and they also fear that Peace may be given or established in exchange for impunity. However the seven Hun The 700 delegates to the national forum in Bungie who met in May of 2015 Were categorical on this and they rejected any idea of offering amnesty If the Central African people are not able to achieve this desire for reconciliation Then they are not they're going to also not see justice the problem of justice and national reconciliation is Is Something that plays a major role and believe me there will not be impunity in our country During the cartoon discussions The subject of justice was discussed Sometimes in a very passionate manner And all the different facilitators of these negotiations helped us to discuss the realities and To obtain a commitment from all the protagonists and compromises that would allow us to Establish this agreement that would be acceptable to all parties, but what is this compromise? first of all The principle of fighting against impunity has been reaffirmed and this includes Everybody because we can no longer conceive that we have peace in Central African Republic if it is based on amnesty for crimes second some of the actors Apparently did not really have a full understanding of the seriousness of the events and the tragedies that we experience in car so With an in an effort to provide more clarity and shed light on these issues we have established an inclusive committee commission that will have the task of Examining all the different acts and facts related to the tragic events and to discuss whatever cases could perhaps be brought to justice this commission Will have will enable us to have a better view of the situation the Inclusive Commission Will then provide its report to the truth justice and reconciliation Commission, which will use the this report To help shed light on the truth so that justice can be dealt out fairly and Help to repair and heal the wounds in the hearts of our people This is the only way that we will be able to achieve true reconciliation and That we will be able to have a constitutional judicial process and To have all the different endogenous mechanisms at our disposal such as including using Traditional methods and traditional authorities Ladies and gentlemen, we have to ensure that there is a where we stand today And we have a very clear idea of where we want to go However, we must note that we may also be limited in our efforts Especially since the government is not present in certain parts of our country We must be able to have the strength to reassure our population to make sure that we have been not On the power to protect citizens and defend our country So that only the government The government would be able to fulfill its true regalia and functions of being able to be the sole reference point For restoring institutions the social and political institutions in our country naturally We realize that the success of this agreement is going to be heavily dependent on the support from our party Partners and amongst these partners. I certainly count on the American the United States and USIP As you know when in order to get to the signing of the agreement we had to pool our efforts We had to work together In order to overcome all the obstacles by and Also taking into account the demands of the citizens of Central Africa and Republic However, we are far from being finished in this work because the most important step of course will be Implementation and this will require ongoing negotiation the government Has not yet been able to develop all of its capacities to conduct this mission alone So I am here to also advocate That all of our partners help us and we mobilize partners to help us to be able to attain these objectives through concrete action through your illustrious Institute I Hope to see That you will continue to maintain and even step up your support in several specific areas particularly Support for our overall strategy for communication so that appropriate messages are being conveyed to the population and that we can also Ensure that there is buy-in and ownership for this peace agreement, which is so necessary for its implementation international actors Can also help us with transformational leadership Developing projects to promote peace and the peace of culture of peace and human rights protections protecting human rights at every level of society Especially for the young people those who are in school those who are not in school on all segments of society These will be important actions during our discussions earlier we I'm sure that during the Q&A after we will perhaps talk more at length about some of the Actions that we can take to help promote peace and reconciliation in my country I know that I can count on your assistance I know that you have heard my call and my appeal and We are very willing to work with you to have your support So that our peace can be a success story and can be a shared story with many. Thank you Mr. Le Président Former Assistant Secretary of Africa at the State Department Served as ambassador in Zimbabwe Uganda and Kenya most importantly as a senior advisor here at US Institute of Peace so ambassador Carson ambassador Tamlin welcome to the stage and Thank you for those thank you for those thank you for those very Far-reaching and insightful comments I want to pick up at one of the comments you made towards the end which is The importance of communicating to you to the citizens of Central Africa Republic. There have been Seven previous peace agreements Since 2013. This is the eighth. How are you communicating to them that this is different? and What has been the reaction thus far and what else do you need to help with that? important part of the Implementation of the peace agreement If I could start with you President Tordera. This is one of the challenges For successful implementation of the agreement Because if The commitments that we have undertaken are not well understood by our citizens Then it will be very difficult to actually implement them But one thing is certain this agreement We we may think that This is just one more agreement in a succession of others, but I can tell you that this agreement For us. This is not a fatality Rather this agreement we believe will be the last agreement If we are all strongly committed and determined to ensure its implementation This agreement has something More than the other agreements Because all the different stakeholders and protagonists took the necessary time to discuss all the different issues and All the points that are included in the agreement. First of all, they've been discussing Negotiating this for three years since I took office the armed groups have been the 14 armed groups have been discussing this for three years So we've been creating the conditions To ensure that we can Implement the DDR process which was recommended by the bang bongie forum So we've just we've started these discussions with the 14 armed groups. Unfortunately It not all of them followed through 11 of them are on board, but not the other three There have been several attempts through different African heads of states through the AU But we did agree with all the different partners that we had to merge all these initiatives in Brussels We had a meeting Where all those who wanted to participate who wanted to help car to restore stability and peace met and we agreed to Promote an initiative to have a have this discussion this initiative under the aegis of the African Union So a panel facilitators was established in Libreville And this panel has begun its work This was in 2017 The panel has met with the 14 different armed groups in their regions at their bases and The discussions have discussions have been held with the leaders of these armed groups But also with the different combatants from these groups So the discussions have already started at this level with the 14 armed groups each armed group Has produced a written document with its demands The demands that they wish to have in place in order to move towards peace Now the different demands were very different from group to group. So the panel Has tried to harmonize them And so a meeting was held amongst the armed groups to harmonize their political demands And they were able to produce 120 demands which were then submitted to the government We then provided a response Within the parameters that I already discussed respect of constituting respecting the constitution territorial integrity Respecting institutions And saying no to impunity Those were the parameters we established and so in cartoon We had discussions And we discussed point by point the various elements of the agreement we went through point point Point word by word All the different protagonists all the different parties Are well aware of the commitments that have been made Now it's true that there were very difficult moments During these negotiations Particularly around the issue of impunity or the issue of amnesty and also power sharing But I believe that in if everybody respects the parameters All the all the parties have realized that we cannot move towards peace if we Do not deal with the issues of justice So everybody Is fully aware of this necessity And the everybody Realizes that all the provisions of this agreement have been agreed to by all the parties and it's been signed However, it's not just the parties. It's also the facilitators. This agreement has been almost all the neighboring countries Are guarantors of this agreement The international community Of friendly countries our allies are supporting this agreement. We have the united nations france The u.s All these ally countries are helping to support the agreement and they have Clearly stated their their support for the agreement. So we're counting on all of our partners To help us implement the agreement Of course, there will be challenges For example, I was mentioning earlier That in the provisions of this agreement According to these The agreement the government has to take 21 commitments. The arm groups have only 10 commitments So we've started fulfilling these commitments the first one The most important is article 21 of the agreement which stipulates that as soon as the Agreement is signed and inclusive government is to be established This is what we tried to do on march 30th And even before that there was an inclusive government in place But some of the arm groups have felt That they are not as well represented in this inclusive government or they don't have enough representation And so they have brought the matter to the panel of facilitators. There was a meeting in atasababa Between a government team and the team of the part of the armed groups And I believe they reached a compromise and after that we were able to set up an inclusive government on march 22nd and The first the prime minister has been here And members of the government are in place. So but there are still challenges The agreement is not going to happen from one day to the next. Here are major challenges One of the and this is one of the challenges what you mentioned the problem of communication Because we can't forget that we are Working in a political context where some of the political actors think That they should rather take this opportunity to continue to Disrupt the situation People who are enemies of peace are not going to allow things to go about without any problems There are some elements Some of our fellow citizens who are actually working against this agreement And so we have to continue explaining to the populace. We have to explain that we have no other choice But to move towards peace and dialogue And I am firmly committed. I have committed the government to work To Further implement the peace agreement and and this is a very strong Resolute termination that we've undertaken We have to implement this agreement even with the challenges that we have and we have to Find additional resources to do this and these are resources that we perhaps lack And so we're continuing to discuss with our friends of such as europe the world bank and others To continue supporting us with implementation of the agreement and of course communication Has to also be in line with the Populations expectations for this agreement because they expect to see dividends from the peace And this agreement that we signed They have to see in reality that there are concrete actions on the ground being taken That will be helping for example displaced persons to help them find homes again Or help them live in better conditions to have access To basic social services hospitals to be able to send their children back to school To be able to go back to work to sell their products in the markets and as quickly as possible So these are all the challenges that we will have to overcome in addition to communication In order to really give this an agreement a good fighting chance. Sorry if I was a little bit long in my response You've you've given us a glimpse of some of the complexities and some of the very Intricate long process that it takes to get to peace. I want to pull on one of the issues that you Refer to and that is the classic Problem in a peace agreement of balancing Amnesty with demands for justice and you quite rightly noted the insistence on no impunity But there's often some gray areas between amnesty and justice and if you I'd like to turn to ambassador karson Um if you could give us from your long experience and working these issues How you've seen that balance Between accountability impunity You know solving the conflict and creating an inclusive government with citizen demands for justice Let me first of all Say to president watar welcome To usip and congratulations to you and your colleagues on the Enormous amount of work that you have done over the last several years and certainly over the last several months to Help restore peace and stability to your country Challenges are enormous And clearly the greatest Challenge that you face is the one that president lindborg mentioned and that is trying to balance Peace And justice I would say to you based on the comments in your Speech That it is important Absolutely important That those who are responsible For carrying out so much of the violence Not hold the peace process To hostage and therefore it is absolutely essential To carry out the outlines of the Effort that you have underway in the february agreement The inclusivity commission must in fact do Its work and must do it rapidly it must identify all of the drivers of conflict And clearly point them out The truth Reconciliation and justice commission Should in fact be established as quickly as possible And that it should be a commission That hears the voice of the people who participated in the 2015 Bangi form on national reconciliation If for me, there was one major shortcoming in the february agreement It is in fact That not enough of the voices of victims were heard The voices of civil society The voices of the women And young children Who were the victims of the violence the men and women who were the victims of the violence And here again coming back to the element of communication It is important to hear the voices of the people Creating peace and sustaining that peace is not a zero-sum game And in fact those who commit the violence must at some point be brought to justice But they must be brought to justice in a transparent fashion They must be brought to justice in a fashion in which the people of the country Who have been the victims of the violence are satisfied with the outcome as well And if I can interject with a question from our audience For for any of the three of you So what degree do you think economic crimes like corruption should be incorporated into this Truth and reconciliation and transitional justice process So john you mentioned the violence There's also the economic aspect Of what's gone on the lap since 2013 If I can mr. President, I would say absolutely One of the drivers Of the conflict in the central african republic Has been the enormous predation and theft of the country's economic resources It's it's diamonds. It's gold. It's cobalt And also the loss And theft of animals and livestock Those individuals who are responsible for those economic crimes Should also be brought to justice Because their theft is not only undermine the integrity the economic strength of the nation It is also undermine the integrity of villages Communities families and individuals And their actions should in fact be brought before the courts as well impunity whether it is impunity for killing a person or Or or or stealing the resources of the country should not be tolerated President Tordari, you mentioned this in your comments Ambassador Carson just touched on this 20 of the population is displaced from this bloody conflict Both as refugees and inside central africa republic With a lot of repercussions livelihoods gone Property taken by others These are all of the problems that Attend a reconciliation process As a part of this peace plan, are there specific plans targeting These one million people who are displaced? Yes, of course This will be part of some of the urgent actions that we will need to take Within the context of the agreement, but let me first of all just react to something that was said In this agreement We have certain timelines as you were saying The inclusive commission needs to be able to do its work quickly We do have some deadlines. We had established a deadline of about A hundred and or 90 days rather. This is set in the agreement that the Inclusive commission would have 90 days to identify the different cases and the crimes and to submit its report to the truth and reconciliation Which is supposed to then be operational 90 days following the agreement. So We are trying to move as quickly as possible to tackle this problem of justice And as you said, it's not just crimes of violence or also economic crimes that have to be punished There's no such thing as just a small crime These crimes must also be brought before the appropriate judicial bodies and this is not a justice that is A justice based on vengeance or revenge. This has to be true justice that is Fair and that introduces peace And this is what we are attempting to implement Through the special criminal court that we've established through the justice truth justice and reconciliation commission and also through other judicial bodies That have the competence and the necessary qualifications to fairly try and judge these cases And we have received support from some of our partners including the united states To revitalize our judicial system. Some of our partners such as the e.u Are working with us to help Build the capacities of our formal judicial system so that they can carry out this mission In addition to the truth justice and reconciliation commission, of course today About 20 of our population Has been affected by this crisis Many of our citizens have been displaced either internally Even within their own villages, they're they've been displaced because they've been forced to move to places where there's greater security Uh, and they can't necessarily come back to their daily lives or their activities And in our country as you may know a large portion of our population Lives off agriculture And but since there are armed groups everywhere These people can't necessarily go out to work in the fields and They become more fragile and they can't Uh, they can't meet the needs of their families because they can't go out and work and do their daily activities So this is an enormous problem So we have to find solutions for these issues and for the people Because the people really want to be able to go back to work They want peace and they want to be able to resume their normal lives This is why for us it's a priority So for us it is a priority that violence stop That these people be able to To their occupations There are people who even in their own village cannot go to three kilometers To perform their activities So for us we need to have a rapid response for these populations We need to help them from the humanitarian standpoint We must Help them from Health point of view give them potable water and for children who haven't gone to school for quite a while They have to go back to school So all these activities That in this context we have a strong expectation from the population. So this is urgent So the support from Some of our friends in this area Will help us speed this up We have a recovery program that is being financed. I just came back from Brussels a month ago to talk about the conditions for resetting our priorities on this Because there is a strong expectation from the population We sign the agreement and the population wants dividends and that means finding peace once again And it's an urgent question that requires financing support Both in terms of skills know how et cetera You know you point to a classic problem Where there are so many needs they're so urgent You have both humanitarian Life-saving needs as well as the longer term reconstruction needs a question Both to build on what you just said and also to invite ambassador tamlin in How how do you see the international community Helping to balance the humanitarian with the longer term Has the government provided Priorities of how to provide that balance, but it's it's both managing expectations And prioritizing when everything needs urgent attention Ambassador tamlin do you want to jump in on that? Thank you, and I think you've really hit the nail on the head That is the challenge that the friends and partners of the central african republic are dealing with on a daily basis There are actually a couple of innovative mechanisms that are in place to address this The european union for example has a fund called the farm beku Which is specifically designed to have flexibility to be able to support the continuum of activities that go from humanitarian to development and They are big bureaucracy like Ours, but farm beku has been set up specifically to try to be more agile And also to be able to serve as a kind of a multi-tolerant trust fund So that other non-eu members are invited to contribute So that that is one mechanism Speaking for the part of the u.s. Government. We are primarily Right now focused on humanitarian assistance But our humanitarian assistance does not rule out the possibility of supporting displaced persons returning And helping them resume their livelihoods And this is a little bit about what the president was speaking of in terms of being able to meet that peace dividend once Displaced persons are able to return home Which as he pointed out in some cases is just going across town But across town and feeling safe And and and secure knowing that you will be able to move back to your home and go back to your fields so we hope to be able to And the conditions permit to help support these kinds of returns as long as they are obviously done consistent with international norms for security And and the well-being of the people concerned I do have to say that our longer-term projects which we're working on which are primarily focused on supporting the justice and security sectors Are also laying the seeds for that longer-term development. It's about institution building And part of the the the the the peace agreement's Objective is to allow the institutions of government to be reestablished to move out into areas that haven't known government institutions for many years And we're particularly proud of what we're doing in the justice and security sectors Because we have identified those as key. You're right in a sea of need. Where do you start? But we decided to start with justice and security and so with our assistance. We are training police. We're training john darms We're helping to rehabilitate Courthouses and police stations providing equipment communications equipment transportation equipment uniforms And providing a lot of training also to help these actors understand that they are the servants of the people So we're doing our part, but it is it is a challenge and I think that USIP is actually an organization which can help us try to understand What are some of the how do you actually work your way through those priorities? And how do you identify how to be most transformational in terms of assisting a country with the depth of needs of car? Thank you Thank you, you know, certainly security is always paramount and a citizen having a sense of security and Your occupancy you noted in your comments That this wasn't fundamentally a christian muslim conflict But those rumors certainly fanned the flames of it becoming so So have have has the peace process moved So that those tensions Are calmed now. Are there fewer tensions? Are people feeling more secure in their neighborhoods? Um, enabling people to feel like they can go home We'll see Thank you at the time of this crisis it There was a desire to say that this was a religious conflict between Christians and muslims, but that's really a caricature Because the central african people have never had this experience Uh In our history, we've never had this kind of situation our communities lived together peacefully and so it's Some people under this crisis perhaps had political gains or strengthened their strategic positions and by Uh Fanned the flames of this crisis to do so But I really believe that fundamentally the central african people is not For this type of of consideration The proof is that when in areas where today there is peace the communities live live peacefully together So we have to work. I mean we can't just forget about it obviously, but There are a certain number of parasites who have found power through this and through communication Awareness raising we have to inform our population our people that this is not a good way of looking at the crisis that we live through And so that requires work Work between communities and at all levels by institutions like yours Religious actors religious leaders in my country there was a There was a platform created of religious leaders and that really helped to To get rid of this qualification of the crisis as a religious conflict because the religious leaders Uh did not see it This way they got together to denounce this situation and that really Slowed or at least uh, or or even eliminated the efforts of the people who wanted us to Fall in in this catastrophic situation, but we have to continue to do this because We have to continue this work because some people We have to remove this From the consciousness of our population Because I think if we have peace if we have proper communication People will go back in the right direction People are still in a precarious situation at this point. They can't resume their occupations quite yet. So We It is an ongoing problem, but from our point of view. I think it's a it's a problem We can fix pretty easily Because this is not How we see things About how you see the integration of former armed group members happening This is again a part of the fundamental security and reconciliation process You mentioned 11 of the 14 armed groups have signed up What do you see as the process of integrating them? This is a question from the audience There are several types of integration First integration with international army There were people who were parts part of these armed groups and at a given point They even doubted the government's will To want to integrate them in the army I want to recall that a lot of our young people who joined up Who joined these armed groups They didn't do it because they shared their convictions They did because they were looking for job opportunities They went because they thought well, there's a rebellion and maybe they will get power and I will have a job and Eventually they realized I was in the case So these are people who are now ready to serve their country in the correct manner We have tested some things. I decided that we could test this integration A pilot DDR program if you will At this scale at a reduced scale By armed groups So and now some people from these armed groups have reintegrated into the national army and they're working They're under our flag. They have missions like all other The soldiers and it's working So in this case, I really don't think it's there is an integration problem Obviously, not everyone is going to join the army. There are rules principles Standards that are going to be established There's there's age Those who don't have a legal Illegal antecedents There are criteria to join the army. You don't just join up You have to meet these criteria And these were established by the UTM by the menusca And those who cannot join the army because they don't meet these criteria who don't want to There are other activities. They we can put them in training programs in programs to reintegrate them into society through Small jobs being a mace a bricklayer In agriculture, etc to bring them back into the work life And then there are those who are former soldiers and who joined the rebels There is a commission that has been set up to handle those cases former Soldiers who joined Armed groups. There is a commission within the army And it acts within the framework of the agreement In with the utm and with the menusca and it It examines case-by-case for individuals And it looks at what rank they were out in the armed groups So there are stages there are provisions to be applied to each category And none of these armed groups Will be left behind or forgotten. Every case will be examined With the support of this process And I We've had good tests on this. So one of the aspects of your question is is disintegration Does the population approve of disintegration? Well, that's a question of communication It doesn't mean that those who are integrated are forgiven from justice Justice must do its work. We have to say no to impunity and I clearly stated in the agreement So Those in charge of the 14 groups Were fully aware of this when they signed so We want to say that we're not going to abandon the victims or the or the the rights of the victims The the constitution of the republic as I said, which Is it's preserved within the framework of this agreement is Says no to impunity the form of bangi Which is basically the foundation of our last constitution and it is the people to answer another question The victims have not been forgotten Uh, we had the bangi forum in 2015 Where which was based on consultation Meaning the organizers Asked questions from our people throughout the entire country to understand their positions regarding each Subject and regarding amnesty regarding peace and they said no to amnesty And this no to amnesty is included within the constitution and it is Respected within the framework of disagreement Jen from the audience to this is that Many of the rebel groups, of course Profited from the conflict Um They made a lot of money Because the conflict was going on does the peace agreement address What is a fundamental disincentive For these groups to make peace And in particular will the peace agreement enable the government to stop the illegal exploitation of diamonds Which has been one important source of revenue for the armed groups The person who asked this question that was was right, uh, yes, it is a challenge because For the implementation of this agreement now the demands of the armed groups Within those since I took office We have worked on a certain number of items because a group the armed groups Thought that their regions were not sufficiently Taken into account let's say by the government And they that they were not properly represented in government bodies and that The regions they were from did not, uh, have enough development projects programs, etc It's not true given our context, but we have to provide answers That's why I Um engaged the government with our partners into this difference positive as as a positive difference as I call it To create development programs in these regions To reassure our fellow citizens who are Out in these regions that they still belong to the republic But political questions we Don't hear too much about it. But now it is the conflicts we have seen among armed groups over the past three years it's Really conflicts among them for the occupation of mining areas because they want to Be the owners to to use these mining areas It's predation their their predators essentially and they're also fighting on the transhumance pass Where we move cattle from one area to another because They are making money from that and that is how they buy their weapons and continue to operate Now if we want to move towards peace for some of the leaders of These armed groups, it's it's going to Mean less revenues. So it's it's so it is important that we have the support Of all the international community our partners the menusca article 35 for example stipulates sanctions and Must push us towards peace We feel good about it because we feel that most of the people within these armed groups are not Getting their interests taken care of they were used they're being used and they know it Since the crisis began They didn't see any increase in their income any change in their life So, you know those people they and the groups that say we're from this region They haven't invested anything in these regions the people from these regions know it's They haven't done anything. So everyone is committed To peace now, but there are those Who have their own interests and who are going to fight against this and others who have political interests Uh that and they're going to work against it But the majority of the population the majority of the armed groups want to work for peace Encouraging words and of course there are interests not only inside the country, but outside the country You live in a tough neighborhood And I want to ask both ambassadors Carson and tamlin if you could comment on what do you see as some of the factors Regionally that could lead to stability Or could lead to instability and how can international partners help assist with some of these neighborhood dynamics And and there's a particular card question Asking about the role of chad So you can wrap that in All right start first Let me Say that it is An extraordinarily tough region But this is indeed a historic moment in the political life of The car Your peace agreement of february And your government Under your leadership have given Hope to a lot of people in your country as well As a number of important Countries in the international community It is I think absolutely critical to continue The progress That you were making In order to maintain The support from the international community Starting with the united nations and its peacekeeping office The european union the united states france and others who are engaged In this process I think it's also critical To to continue to win the support of the World bank And the imf And your progress will incentivize those in the international community to help as well You are however in a very very tough neighborhood You're surrounded by six countries Five of which are engaged in internal civil strife And conflict Some of that conflict moves across the border And has the capacity to undermine your stability I think it's absolutely critical that you continue your regional diplomacy You continue your africa diplomacy And that you in fact move out beyond that to look for some of the Stronger and more forceful political And strategic african voices to join in and help you push forward Some of your more immediate neighbors can in fact be more troublesome than helpful What you need to do is to find those who are a little bit further away Who can be more helpful than troublesome Did you want to add on investor town? Thank you. I wanted to second what ambassador karson has said and certainly in our american diplomacy One of the things that i've committed to president toadera is that we would work regionally to support the peace agreement Not just bilaterally So that's that's something that we that we've undertaken because we recognize that the solution is a regional solution But I also wanted to mention one thing you talked about trends in the region and and events And one of the things that the president has mentioned a couple of times in the meetings that we've had with different Groups over the last two days is the importance of regulating transhumance Which is the seasonal movement of livestock and humans? and I think it's something that people have been aware of for a long time, but it's starting to become More obvious that this is a a source of conflict, but it's also a source of great wealth And well managed it can produce harmonious relationships between countries who Live in zones where the the livestock need to travel out in search of pastures during the the dry season and zones which Have the the the rich and lush vegetation such as central african republic and can provide that that that Destination point for transhumance So transhumance is something that must be ultimately managed at the local level It's about agreements between villages and the people moving through them But it's an important role of the state to also provide the framework to make it clear That that they will back up those local level agreements And I think that one of the important aspects of the agreement which the president has mentioned is setting up mixed commissions To work with neighboring countries to try to resolve some of those border issues I think that's a very promising very important aspect of the agreement. Thank you And moving from the regional to the international there are several questions here Asking about the considerable attention to the growing role of russia In car and a concern that some of russia's actions are not contributing to peace And whether You see ways to ensure that all partners Including russia are able to be positive forces for peace. Do you want to comment on that mr. President? And yes Well, there are no Subjects that are off the table as far as I'm concerned There's a role for everybody in central africa in terms of Economic activities for example Mining we have a mining code Which clearly stipulates how a company can set up and start doing business in central african republic And this is a market that has been liberalized all the different actors all the investors Again if they fulfill if they meet these criteria and these conditions can come and work out In full transparency in in car It's not a matter of influence It's rather an issue of investment The mining code is very clear just as the forestry code the business code the all function And moreover with the mining code we have provisions legislative provisions That under the constitution and article 60 Stipulate that any party that wants to invest has to receive Authorization from the national assembly So that we can ensure that these companies actually fulfill the criteria In the mining areas we have african partners chinese partners We've got russian partners french partners everybody's there and When we came here to washington, we're also coming to invite american investors American business people to come and invest and work in central african republic just like all the others This will help us to Find solutions and help provide more solutions to our crisis because as I was saying earlier our young people today Many of them joined these arm groups simply because they were seeking employment. They didn't It wasn't because of the vision or the ideology So if we have more investors who come in and employ them Well, then they'll have a future to look forward to and this will prevent them from Taking up arms or uh going to these arm groups or other activities That's one of the objectives too. We want to create the a good investment climate to attract investment to car Also, there's the military aspect and security The russian federation Has sent russian trainers And this is not something that was done in secret This was actually through done through the un sanctions committee Which knew was aware of this and it was thanks to this effort that Uh, the russian federation was authorized to provide support to us For training and also for equipping the Our army with weapons But this is because we have a great need. We have There's a demand. It's not an ideological reason that's leading us to work with russia and We are asking all of our partners to support us to help us to Rebuild our army and to support us in this effort The ambassador was just saying that the united states Uh is providing support with logistics And also right now Some studies are being undertaken To see how the u.s. Can provide more support for the army and car So we're asking all of our friends to support us. We're facing major challenges central african republic It's not a problem with the crimea or are these types of issues. We are we It's not really a strategic issue It's it's it's an urgent need in a country like africa in this context In a country in africa in this context Even if intellectually we can talk about it or we can talk about it on a political level But we have the urgent need and the most urgent need and that is that our people are suffering and they need peace and stability We need an army to ensure peace and we needed the support of our friends including the united states So we're running out of time But i want to give each of you to quickly share with all of us We'll start with you ambassador and and just move down the line What we're at a pivotal moment. We've all noted that what gives you the greatest hope The young people of the central african republic that i've met who are eager to take their place in in society to help their country Move forward. It's a great source of inspiration. Thanks Mr. Carson The current leadership The president and his team His commitment And his actions thus far And the hope that he will fulfill the commitments of the february accord Ensuring that It is justice That prevails along with peace I would like to first of all sincerely thank you for giving me this opportunity To come to us ip And for everything that you've done for us, even if you've done it discreetly or on the side But everything you've done to support us and to help us to achieve stability for our population So i'd like to thank you and also thank everybody here And everybody who came today in the audience for the very interesting questions that were raised I hope we've been able to shed light on a certain number of aspects But we are very determined and committed to restoring peace in our country And we're committed to implement this agreement, which for us is an opportunity a great opportunity for the people of central african republic And we need your support. Thank you It's very difficult to climb out of decades of conflict And you've given us reason to be very hopeful that this is the opportunity for the central african republic To truly move into a new era of peace. I want to thank you for coming with your vision with your very candid Responses obviously very knowledgeable leadership matters in these situations And your emphasis on on justice on accountability on communication And on meeting the needs of your people will obviously be critical elements as we move forward Thank you. I know you'll keep us posted on how all of us and many in the room who have long long been Supporters of car how we can continue to support You and the people of car deer in this very very important period Thank you for joining us today. Thank you everybody for being here for your continued interest In car's journey towards peace and please join me once again in thanking president to our dara ambassador Carson ambassador tamer Um, if I could ask everybody to please remain in your seats, uh while the official delegation exits We'll just be one moment