Bria, Central African Republic (February 4, 2019) - A much needed influx of goods poured into Bria from Sudan this past week.

For the last several years, Bria's main thoroughfares were blocked by rebel-controlled barricades levying heavy taxes on the movement of goods and people in and out of the city. Repeated fighting made the area too dangerous to access and massive population displacements left half the city and villages along Bria’s main roads empty.

Deploying local peacemakers to areas where few dare to go, CIT has been hard at work mediating between civilians and armed groups to remove illegal check-points on a number of access roads to the city and give the local economy a boost. Villagers also sought to resolve with the area's ComZone issues surrounding the flow of weapons and the rampant criminality in the area. The dialogues gave hundreds of IDPs the courage to return home and begin the grueling process of rebuilding their homes.

Improved security in Bria opens the town to commercial activity so trucks from Sudan can deliver plastic chairs, peanuts and sugar, carpets and soap and many other goods to supply local merchants with much needed merchandise.