CAR : National Dialogue Ends Satisfactorily

The National Reconciliation Dialogue in the Central African Republic has ended with participants calling on stakeholders to rapidly implement the 600 recommendations formulated. The week-long discussions that took place at the National Assembly in Bangui under very stormy and convivial atmosphere saw a strong recommendation for an end to the arms embargo imposed on the country by the UN in 2013, after a coalition of armed groups overthrew the regime of President François Bozize and a rejection of attempt to modify the Constitution to allow the incumbent to run for a third mandate.
Speaking during the closing ceremony on Sunday, President Faustin Archange Touadera said the national dialogue is the only voice for peace and national reconciliation. In the presence of over 700 participants, the President added that, despite the little hurdles witnessed, the National Reconciliation Dialogue has reached its goal, “In an unprecedented surge of solidarity, you resisted the manipulations and diabolical gestures of the eternal protesters,” he targeted the opposition that boycotted the dialogue.
Prior to the President’s address, other speakers like the President of the Dialogue Committee, Richard Filkota, who presented the recommendations and Bruno Gbiebga, a lawyer and human rights activist gave assurances with regards to the implementation of decisions agreed on. For Bruno Gbiebga, “We have to apply these conclusions so that we can get out of it, and this dialogue is a half victory, even if we would have liked the armed groups to be here because they are at the origin of our ...