U.S. THREATENS TO FREEZE AID TO ARMENIA
Radio Liberty
March 13 2008
Czech Rep.
The United States has expressed concern about the Armenian government’s
continuing post-election crackdown on the opposition and threatened
to suspend its multimillion-dollar economic assistance to Armenia.
"We continue to follow with concern the current situation in Armenia,"
a spokesman for the White House, Tony Fratto, told reporters on
Thursday. He pointed to the imposition of a state of emergency
in Yerevan and mass arrests of opposition activists following the
March 1 clashes between security forces and opposition supporters
protesting against the official results of last month’s disputed
presidential election.
"The government of Armenia needs to uphold the rule of law, lift the
state of emergency and restore press freedoms. We urge a political
dialogue between the government and opposition to resolve the situation
quickly," Fratto said, according to AFP news agency.
Reuters quoted the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as telling
a congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday that the emergency
rule made it necessary to freeze some of the U.S. aid programs in
Armenia. She did not elaborate.
Rice apparently referred to $235.6 million in aid which Washington has
promised allocate to Armenia under its Millennium Challenge Account
(MCA) program designed to promote political and economic reforms
around the world. U.S. officials have repeatedly said that the
sum’s disbursement is conditional on democratic reform and improved
governance in Armenia.
In a Tuesday letter to President Robert Kocharian, the head of the
Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), John Danilovich, warned that
the U.S. government agency managing the scheme could "suspend or
terminate" the five-year aid package due to the dramatic post-election
developments in Armenia.
"MCC is reviewing operational aspects of its ongoing work in Armenia
in light of these events, including the suspension of media freedoms
and the imposition of a state of emergency, and is closely monitoring
the situation with U.S. Government and donor colleagues," Danilovich
wrote. He said MCC needs to be certain that "our programs operate in
a democratic environment."
Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian acknowledged on Thursday that
continued U.S. assistance to Armenia is now at serious risk. "It all
depends on how the United States evaluates things, on how quickly we
can get out of this situation," he said.
"Right now we are facing a dilemma: the country’s stability and the
people’s security versus democratic values, liberties, civil rights,"
Oskanian told a news conference. "The president of the republic is
facing this dilemma."
"The situation is not clear-cut. He has to balance things, and that’s
not an easy task. The longer this balancing act lasts, the more the
public will suffer," he said.
Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sarkisian appears to be
more sanguine in that regard, though. He chaired on Wednesday,
the day after Danilovich’s letter to Kocharian, a meeting of the
governing board of an Armenian government agency overseeing the use
of MCA funds, which are due to be spent on upgrading the country’s
battered irrigation networks and rural roads.
A statement by Sarkisian’s press office said the government received
about $11.3 million in MCA funding as of last December and expects
to get the next installment of the promised aid, also worth $11.3
million, in the second quarter of this year.
The aid package is essential for the success of the Sarkisian
government’s efforts to reduce widespread rural poverty. According to
Armenian and U.S. officials, the resulting infrastructure projects,
if implemented, will benefit 75 percent of the country’s million-strong
rural population.