22 August 2008
United States Delivering Help and Hope to Georgia
U.S. foreign aid director Henrietta Fore in Tbilisi inspects relief effort
Washington -- Additional U.S. humanitarian aid destined for the Republic of Georgia has been loaded aboard ships that are steaming toward Tbilisi.
The ships are hauling blankets, bottled water, baby food and hygiene kits to those who have lost their homes or fled them in the wake of the Russian-Georgian conflict that erupted August 8.
The Georgian government requested U.S. humanitarian assistance, which is being coordinated by the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with logistical support from the Defense Department.
The United States, one of 35 countries to respond to the appeals for help from Georgia or the United Nations, has pumped nearly $11 million in emergency aid to Georgia. Donated goods have been distributed by nongovernmental organizations that are U.S. partners -- International Relief and Development, United Methodist Committee on Relief, Counterpart International, Hellenicare and the Georgia affiliate of A Call to Serve.
The United States also is working with international organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and has given $1 million to the U.N.’s World Food Programme to buy and distribute food in Georgia.
USAID Director Henrietta Fore and the head of the U.S. European Command, Army General John Craddock, were in the capital August 21 inspecting some of this aid, which had arrived by air.
Fore said in a conference call to media on August 21 that she visited a center for displaced people and a hospital. She said the people she met “had hope, but many needs.” Emory University School of Medicine doctors and administrators from Atlanta who were involved in an exchange were helping at the hospital and, while civilians and soldiers were being treated, no patient had been lost, Fore said.
The U.S. Navy destroyer USS McFaul set sail from Crete on August 18 with 55 tons of additional supplies, and the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Dallas soon will be under way from the same port. Both ships will transit through the Black Sea to reach Georgia by month’s end. They will be the first U.S. ships to drop anchor in Georgian ports since the conflict began. The flagship of the Navy’s Sixth Fleet, the USS Mount Whitney, also is being loaded with tons of relief aid in the port of Gaeta, Italy. It will be dispatched shortly after the other two vessels.
The first Navy flight arrived in Tbilisi August 18 with more than 2,000 hygiene kits, but that delivery is part of a much larger effort than began with Air Force flights into the capital on August 13. Daily flights are continuing to bring in everything from antibiotics to crutches for organizations including the Georgian Ministry of Health. One of the more recent flights delivered 56,000 daily rations and another 14,000 prepackaged military meals. (See “More U.S. Relief Headed for Victims of Georgia Conflict.”)
The Air Force has a crisis response team in place, and its commander, Tim Brown, said it is great to be able “to assist a regional ally in need of help.” Nearly 130,000 people have been displaced as a result of the crisis and many have made their way to some 600 refugee centers operating out of hospitals, schools and abandoned buildings.
Fore said she saw disparity among the centers; while the schools have kitchens, bathrooms and water, other buildings sheltering refugees do not. She expressed concern about the fact that school should start in the next month, making the makeshift housing difficult to keep in operation. “It becomes increasingly important that these Georgian [displaced people] return home, earn normal livelihoods and place their children in school,” Fore said.
NEXT STEPS: INFRASTRUCTURE AND DEFENSE
A U.S. military assessment team has been in Georgia trying to determine the full extent of its infrastructure needs, including transportation. The existence of unexploded ordnance is an issue for aid distributors. (See “Gates Says Military Mission Aims to Save Lives, Ease Suffering.”)
Once the crisis has abated and Russia has withdrawn, the United States will turn its attention to rebuilding Georgia’s armed forces. The United States already had military trainers in Georgia as it readied a contingent of troops for deployment to Iraq. (See “United States Will Help Rebuild Georgia’s Military.”)
Meanwhile, Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham have been in Tbilisi to discuss the crisis. “This is a moment in history when it is vital for the world’s democracies to stand in solidarity,” Lieberman said.
Graham said it is important for members of Congress to support young democracies and he said it is in the national interest of the United States “to stop Russia from continuing its aggressive actions against Georgia or threatening other countries in the region.”
A fact sheet on the aid effort is available on the USAID Web site.
For more information on U.S. policy, see Crisis in Georgia.
