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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 22-- Jean-Pierre Lacroix, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, said Friday that the opportunity to bring peace back to the Central African Republic (CAR) is great. "We have a great opportunity to bring peace back to the Central African Republic and to the Central African Republic people," he said when meeting with the press. He highly commended the unity between the UN and the African Union (AU) in this regard, noting that "very strong commitment of, and the unity between the two organizations" made a difference. "We also have the involvement of the countries in the region which is extremely important to secure the success of the agreement," he added. The CAR government and 14 armed groups signed a peace agreement in Bangui, capital of the CAR, on Feb. 6. The peace agreement was signed following two weeks of negotiations in Khartoum, Sudan, under the auspices of the AU. Since 2017, the CAR has been in civil war fought along religious and ethnic lines. Emphasizing the need to act quickly, Lacroix noted that efforts must be made to "support the agreement both politically but also very practically." "Time is of the essence," he said, noting that "commitment and engagement" is critical to ensuring that peace will return to the CAR. Smail Chergui, AU commissioner for peace and security, noted that the agreement is different from those signed before as "we have been a little bit creative in addressing mainly the root causes of the conflict and taking specific measures" in term of security, justice, inclusivity and equitable distribution of the wealth between all the regions of the country. | 
