would you join me in welcoming president pierre buyoya. [applause] last but of course not least we are honored to have with us the man who served as president of the nigeria from june 1998 to may 1999. in addition to all the wonderful things that president abubakar has done, he was also the convoy from the u.n. to the condo. -- congo. i am delighted that he could be with us. join me in welcoming president abdulsalami abubakar. [applause] >> and mr. president, ladies and i have been asked by my colleague to introduce the conversation this afternoon. as you know, we are the african union high implementation panel. we started to work in march 2009 on dark for -- darfur. our mandate was extended to the world. we have been working with the sudanese to follow up the implementation of cpa. we have been asked by the sudanese to facilitate the talks on what is called the post-cpa arrangement. maybe the best ways to tell you where we are on these matters. then it may trigger a discussion, a question and answer. maybe that is the best way. first, as

pierre, president for a total of 13 years in burundi, the longest running burundi president, and i'm excited to tell you he was once a form usip grantee. would you join me in welcoming president buyoyaapplause] last, but of course not least, honored to have with us the man who served as president of nigh nigeria from june 1998 to may 1999, of course, in addition to all the wonderful things that president has done, he was also the enjoy on very difficult assignment from the u.p. to the congo, and he is part of this wonderful panel today, and i am just delighted that he could be with us. would you join me in welcoming him. [applause] >> mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, i have been asked by my colleague to introduce the conversation, and as you know, we are the african union presentation panel on sudan, and we started to work in march 2009 on darfur, and then in october 2009, our mandate was extended to the world of sudan, and we have been working with the suda sudanese to follow up the implementation of usip, and then we have been asked by the sudanese also to facilitate the talks on what is called the post cpa arrangement. maybe the best way is to tell you where we are on these m