On 31 August 2018 ACCORD hosted a Brainstorming Session at the Ledger Hotel in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR) for the Africa Initiative (AI) Secretariat Panel, to debrief the AI partners and CAR state officials on their recent field mission to the Western Province of the country, Bouar. The session was called to share the Panels experiences and lessons learnt from the mission which comprised of a three day meeting with 14 armed group representatives. The Bouar meetings provided the Panel an opportunity to share with the armed groups the AI’s intentions in the CAR peace negotiation process, the differences in security defence, the humanitarian concerns in CAR, as well as justice and reconciliation opportunities.
The Brainstorming Session was attended by the AI Secretariat Panel members, the United Nations Mission to CAR – represented by the Special Representative of the Secretary General to CAR and both Deputy Special Representatives of the Secretary General, the CAR Government – represented by the CAR Minister of Defence, Reconciliation and Communications, as well as donor (the European Union and the United States of America country) and neighbouring state representatives.
The Session brought together for the first time, the CAR government ministries, leading United Nations representatives and state officials into a closed space to discuss the positive potential of the AI and its impact in the CAR negotiation process. This resulted in the AI acknowledging the importance of working together with the CAR Government and external stakeholders towards the evolution of the CAR peace process. The Brainstorming Session was hosted by ACCORD as part of its CAR Project which is designed to provide support to increasing and strengthening the negotiation capacity of the Government of CAR’s negotiation team, the African Initiative and local and national stakeholders engaged in the current peace negotiations in CAR.
