Mr. Chair, I was at the Addis Ababa African Union summit about two weeks ago. As the member knows, Canada is working with its allies. We feel that the African Union may be the key player in supporting them in addressing this issue.
The African Union, just after the meeting of the heads of state, had a meeting on the Central African Republic and how to address the issue. Arising from that, in conversation with our allies, in this case the European Union, as the hon. member mentioned, which will send an additional 500 people, they asked what kind of assistance we can give. Canada, of course, yesterday announced $5 million to maintain assistance. We also originally gave money to help the African Union forces in that country.
We are, of course, very concerned that violence is still going on there. The interim president is working very hard.
As I outlined, if the events taking place in the Central African Republic are not solved very quickly, they will have a very unstable regional influence in central Africa.