U.S. CUTS AID TO ARMENIA OVER 'DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE'
The United States has effectively axed nearly one third of a $235.6 million aid program for Armenia, citing its government's deteriorated human rights record and democratic practices.
The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) indicated late on Wednesday that the $67 million project to reconstruct and repair about 1,000 kilometers of Armenian rural roads will not be implemented anytime soon.
The agency, which administers the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) program, froze the project following a harsh government crackdown on the Armenian opposition sparked by the disputed presidential election of February 2008. The MCC board of directors has extended the freeze during quarterly meetings held over the past year.
In a statement issued after its latest meeting in Washington chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the board said MCC " will not resume funding for any further road construction and rehabilitation." "The responsibility for this outcome remains with the government of Armenia, whose actions have been inconsistent with the eligibility criteria that are at the heart of the MCC program," Rodney Bent, the corporation's acting executive director, was quoted as saying.
"I do not anticipate that the Board will revisit this issue in the future," added Bent.
The move came one day after the U.S. State Department reiterated its discontent with Yerevan's human rights record in an annual report on U.S. efforts to promote freedom and democracy around the world. It again described the February 2008 ballot as "significantly flawed" and criticized the ensuing government crackdown on the opposition.
"Authorities used harassment and intrusive application of bureaucratic measures to intimidate and retaliate against government opponents," said the report. "Police beat pretrial detainees and failed to provide due process in some cases ... Courts remained subject to political pressure from the executive branch, with the selective prosecution of political opponents and absence of due process reflecting the judiciary's lack of independence."
"U.S. officials repeatedly have warned the government that MCC funding is contingent upon its progress in democratic practices and in meeting the MCC indicators," added the report.
U.S. assessment of the May 31 municipal elections in Yerevan promises to be just as negative. U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch said on Tuesday that U.S. Embassy officials who observed the vote witnessed irregularities "throughout the city." Yovanovitch said a report based on their findings will be released shortly.
The U.S. aid suspension led the Armenian government in July 2008 to allocate about $17 million of its own funds to rural road construction envisaged by Armenia's MCA compact. The current economic recession and a resulting major shortfall in tax revenues preclude more such funding this year. Instead, the government secured in February a $25 million loan from the World Bank for rural infrastructure rehabilitation.
The aid cut will not affect the main $160 million segment of the aid package approved by MCC in 2006. It is due to be spent on rebuilding and expanding the Armenia's irrigation networks, Azatutyun radio-station reports.
MASSACHUSETTS DISTRICT COURT DISMISSES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL CASE
In a major blow to Turkey's global campaign to suppress the truth about the , U.S. District Court Chief Judge Mark Wolf yesterday, allowing it to continue teaching the facts of the , and other crimes ...U.S. CUTS AID TO ARMENIA OVER 'DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE'
1The United States has effectively axed nearly one third of a $235.6 million aid program for Armenia, citing its government's deteriorated human rights record and democratic practices. The U.S. Millennium ...
HIGH-RANKING OBAMA OFFICIAL REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE GENOCIDE
By Harut Sassounian, Publisher, The California Courier
SAAKASHVILLI IS GOING TO VISIT ARMENIA TO DISCUSS THE HIGH PRICES OF THE ARMENIAN CARGO TRANSIT
By Aghavni Haroutiunian, translated by L.H.SARGSIAN-ALIYEV RECURRENT MEETING TOOK PLACE
Translated by L.H.CALIFORNIA STATE SENATE APPROVES GENOCIDE AWARENESS ACT
SERZH SARGSIAN PARTICIPATED IN ST. PETERSBURG FORUM
Translated by L.H.CBA CONSIDERS RUMORS ABOUT TRANSFER OF MONEY TO KURDISTAN WORKERS' PARTY THROUGH ARMENIAN BANKS AS FABRICATED
"PRESIDENTS OF ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN ARE GOING TO MEET AGAIN"
Translated by L.H.SWEDISH FM REJECTS CLAIM FOR RECOGNIZING ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
MASSACHUSETTS DISTRICT COURT DISMISSES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE DENIAL CASE
U.S. CUTS AID TO ARMENIA OVER 'DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE'
- 1200 Birth of Vardan Aigektsee (writer of fables).
- 1724 The Russian-Turkish agreement was signed in Constantinople. Almost the whole of Transcaucasia is ceded to Turkey.
- 1752 Azad Khan marches against the Khanate of Yerevan.
- 1839 The Turkish army is overwhelmed near Nizba (northern Syria) by the Egyptian viceroy's forces.
- 1901 The Tsar lifts the Land Tax and the Tobacco Tax in Transcaucasia. He institutes the Spade Tax.
- 1903 Tsar Nicolas the Second confirms the law on the confiscation and nationalization of Armenian church properties and estates. He closes Armenian Parish Schools.
- 1921 Soviet Armenia declares that Artsakh is an integral part of its territory on the basis of the repeatedy expressed will of the majority of its population.
- 1957 Birth of Monte Melkonyan (Commander of Artsakh forces in Martooni). He died in 1993.
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