The Comité Local de Dialogue et de Réconciliation de Moundou (Moundou Local Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee, CLDR) brings together men and women from all ethnic and religious backgrounds with one aim - to help local communities promote dialogue and resolve conflicts. It works under the supervision of the Groupe Citoyen (Citizens' Group), which is attached to the Commission Episcopale Justice et Paix du Tchad.

Members of the CLDR are bound by the following principles:

• Commitment to promoting impartial reconciliation.
• Prohibiting and condemning any action which encourages violent or discriminatory behaviour for any reason.
• Total integrity in actions and decision-making
• Respect for justice, truth, tolerance and human dignity
• Never disclosing confidential or sensitive information concerning a problem or conflict currently being resolved.
• Respect for all parties in conflict.
• Committing to developing the CLDFR's internal and external dialogue in order to support the Committee's work with civil society and state structures in Chad.
• Regularly informing the Citizen's Group of its activities.

The CLDR works to prevent and manage intercommunity conflicts in its region. It runs awareness-raising campaigns and provides assistance when conflicts break out. For example, it mediated in a dispute between the Mayor of Moundou and the heads of several communities in the area.

Composed of a President, Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, four consellors and six members, the CLDR is apolitical and works with different groups to promote peaceful coexistence. It includes representatives of:

• Catholic, Protestant, Muslim and traditional religious backgrounds
• Traditional leaders
• Local elected officials
• Elders
• Young people
• Women's organisations
• Human rights associations
• NGOs
• Economic operators
• Pastoralists and animal farmers.

Building a space for reconciliation and harmony in Moundou

The city of Moundou is experiencing rapid growth, and will continue seeing large numbers of arrivals from other countries and areas of Chad. This has the potential to cause social and other conflict between different communities.

The conviction of local populations that the town belongs to them and that others must submit to their manners and customs means there is a potential for conflict with incomers, who may hold similar views about their way of life.

Sometimes events beginning as discussions and disputes between individuals degenerate into protests with religious connotations, and have led to vandalism and the destruction of monuments around the city.

These events, which are often dealt with superficially by the political and administrative authorities, create a feeling of frustration in some people and impunity in others. This makes for a climate of neither peace nor war around the city, but of tension, with can escalate quickly.

This project works to bring different communities together to acknowledge and build on an acceptance that:

• The city's development can only take place in an atmosphere of peace and peaceful cohabitation between its inhabitants.
• This climate of peace must be based on rejecting prejudice.