the will of majority of African citizenries despite the efforts of Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, al-Qaida, and other terrorist groups.Everyone in this room fully understands the challenges. From a civil society perspective, here are just a few recommendations for your consideration as special envoys. In brokering peace accords, it would be helpful, in addition to the representatives of governments and rebels or other aggrieved parties, to have representatives of civil society, particularly those who are proficient in peace entities and understand how conflicts impact different segments of society. In short, the engagement of non-state actors is essential. The international community should work in unison with the African Union regional entities and with all of its member states to ensure that where democracy is being suppressed, human rights violations are being perpetrated, that they stand in unison against the perpetrators; the engagement and inclusion of women in the political process not only through quotas but through the acceptance and delegation of authority in patriarchal societies and the commensurate funding of their integration in these processes. I just returned from AGOA in Gabon where 39 countries talked about some recommendations, and Ill only talk about two which we all know, and that is to encourage governments to advance educational opportunities for youth to include access to digital technology, mobile technology, ecommerce, and new media to promote entrepreneurship. We see even in refugees camps that now theyre engaging youth in entrepreneurial activities.In summary, the reason for having special envoys would be then that due to the unprecedented interest and concern about the Great Lakes region, that while having great opportunities for economic advancement on the one hand, these countries have been caught up in a seemingly endless cycle of violence brought on by internal and interlinked conflicts. A staggering number of people have lost their lives. There have been gross human rights violations, sexual-based violence, extreme poverty, arms trafficking, and huge ungoverned and unprotected spaces. As a result of these conflicts, many civil society organizations, some of who and think tanks, some of whom are in this room, pressed their members of Congress for a special envoy. We know Senator Feingold was the first special envoy to this region, and he went to the region 15 times and you could see a discernible difference. When he left, there was a decline and fortunately members of Congress then recommended to President Obama that he have another special envoy, and we are fortunate enough to have a former member of Congress, Thomas Perriello, who is our special envoy now.We are also equally fortunate to have a special envoy from the United Nations. Mr. Djinnit has considerable experience in the AU, in the African Union. Hes from Algeria and he was the first commissioner for peace and security in the AU. And both of these gentlemen are heavy hitters and we who strive for peace and unity and we have another heavy hitter in Mr. Stephen Hayes. Stephen Hayes is has not only experience in the private sector, but he wouldnt like for me to go back this far,