This morning, the President of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, has visited the Community of Sant’Egidio in Rome. After a long meeting with the founder of the Community, Andrea Riccardi, the president explained - during a press conference - the country’s situation in which Sant’Egidio has been working in order to bring peace. Mr Touadera has thanked the Community for its commitment, which last June led to the signing of an agreement between the different political-military groups located in territory, thus starting the peace process.
“After the agreement signed at Sant’Egidio – the President said - even in the face of important difficulties, including that of the displaced populations, we have noticed some progress in the demobilization of armed groups. The pilot disarmament program will end with the acceptance of 12 armed groups out of 14, and the reintegration of about 600 fighters into the civil society or in the army. Now, the real stage of the disarmament is starting, and we are counting on the involvement of all the actors in the arena, including the two groups who were left out of the first demobilization experiment"
After remembering the precious support given to the country by the historic visit of Pope Francis in November 2015 and rejoicing at the interest shown by Italian cooperation and business in Central Africa, Toudaera even talked about the issues still existing in the country, from the need for support to the conflict-torn economy, to the areas where State control is still complicated: “We trust – he said- in a major spread out of the UN Minusca Forces as a way to accelerate the peace process”.
