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The
continuation and expansion of the United
States direct assistance program to Nagorno
Karabakh represents an important
confidence-building measure and a key
element of the ongoing Nagorno Karabakh
peace process organized under the auspices
of the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
This assistance, approved for the first time
in the fiscal year 1998 foreign aid bill,
was originally opposed by the State
Department, which in May of 1997 sent an
Assistant Secretary of State to testify
before Congress against its adoption. Until
Congress overruled the State Department's
objections, Nagorno Karabakh was the only
population in the Caucasus to have been
denied any United States assistance.
While these Congressional appropriations
have been an important step toward a lasting
settlement, the ANC remains troubled by the
slow pace of the Administration’s
implementation of its humanitarian aid
package to Nagorno Karabakh and, even more
importantly, by its reluctance to expand
United States assistance programs to help
meet the pressing economic, development, and
reconstruction challenges faced by the
people of Nagorno Karabakh.
The United States can play a critical role
in supporting the people of Nagorno Karabakh
as they seek to bring an end to a conflict
that has already claimed too many lives.
Blockaded by a hostile Azerbaijan, with the
strong backing of Turkey, the people of
Nagorno Karabakh are faced with pressing
developmental and humanitarian needs and the
difficult task of rebuilding the social and
economic infrastructure of their republic.
It is therefore imperative that the United
States continues sending relief assistance
and to participate in broad-based
reconstruction efforts without waiting for
the final outcome of the OSCE negotiations.
Over time, targeted reconstruction support
to Nagorno Karabakh will prove to be an
investment in peace in a region of great
strategic significance to the United States. |
