Yes, Mr. Chair. I had noted that three members of the seven-to-nine member transitional presidential council indeed had been accused of corruption.
While all that is deeply disappointing and the transitional presidential council has not been without its challenges, I would note a positive element. Canada had strongly encouraged the presidential council to take the allegations of corruption seriously and to conduct an independent report to assess whether the allegations had any merit. The transitional presidential council and the prime minister and his group came together and did issue an independent report indicating that there was a probability that the corruption allegations did have merit.
I highlight that because it is actually a very positive step that they are taking these allegations seriously. It is also a positive step that in the initial report there was enough confidence and autonomy given to the people who were writing the report that they were able to reach this conclusion. We saw that as a positive step.
The next step is for the report to be handed over to the judiciary. Again, we see that as positive, because they are going through appropriate due process, which is something that we and the international community have been strongly encouraging. We have also, on multiple occasions, encouraged the transitional presidential council to maintain its credibility and focus on its mandate, especially the elements of security and free and fair elections.
Finally, the transitional presidential council took the step to—forgive me, but I don't know what proper expression to use—skip the rotation of the members who were accused of these alleged corruption challenges. It has moved and rotated the presidency on to somebody else who is not in the group that is the subject of these allegations.
We see those steps as very positive, and we see the transitional presidential council as taking this issue quite seriously, but we have continued to strongly encourage it to maintain focus and not let some of these political tensions allow it to lose focus from its mandate.