New U.S. Aid to Georgia to Target Displaced People

08 September 2008

(Infrastructure repairs, economic growth also priorities)

By Kathryn McConnell
Staff Writer

Washington — Meeting the needs of people displaced from their homes by Georgia's ongoing conflict with Russia is an immediate priority of the United States' new humanitarian aid commitment for Georgia, a senior State Department official said.

Under Secretary for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Reuben Jeffery said at a September 3 briefing with reporters that the $1 billion in aid also will be used to help Georgia rebuild its infrastructure and regain its economic momentum.

"There is zero military assistance component to this billion-dollar package," he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the new aid commitment will begin with $570 million in 2008, of which $200 million will be funds diverted from other purposes. The other $370 million will require approval from Congress.

She said the United States looks forward to bringing the $1 billion commitment to a Georgia donors' conference the European Union has offered to host.

Senator Joseph Lieberman, an Independent from Connecticut, is expected to be among a bipartisan group of legislators that will introduce in coming days a bill to authorize funds for more Georgia humanitarian aid in 2008, a Lieberman representative told America.gov.

In Georgia, an estimated 30,000 people are expected to remain away from their homes for an extended period, according to a September 5 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) fact sheet.  The remaining people making up the approximately 185,000 people who had moved from their homes at the height of the crisis but have returned or are expected to return soon, USAID reported.

Before the conflict, Georgia had experienced significant economic growth, achieving a gross domestic product of $10 billion in 2008, more than double its production level in 2003, Jeffery said. The country also had attracted an increasing amount of foreign investment, he said.

In 2005, the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation signed a five-year, $295 million agreement with Georgia to help the country rehabilitate its roads, develop its business and agriculture sectors and reduce the risk of major accidents near the gas pipeline that is used to provide heat and electricity to the country's population.

The United States has already provided $38.4 million in emergency relief to Georgia in 2008 through USAID and the departments of State and Defense, USAID said. (USAID is under the Department of State.)

Supplies — including medical supplies, tents, blankets, emergency meals and water — have been airlifted into Georgia and transported by U.S. Navy and Cost Guard ships. (See “United States Delivering Help and Hope to Georgia.”)

USAID is coordinating with Georgia's government and seven relief organizations to facilitate the distribution of the supplies to displaced people and others affected by the conflict, the agency said.

But access to villages in some areas "remains inconsistent," USAID said.

USAID said tensions among displaced people are escalating in anticipation that the government of Georgia will close assistance centers operating from schools.