BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov.22
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
In the aftermath of the conflict last fall there is now an incredibly important opportunity to help support the successful return of internally displaced people here in Azerbaijan to their homes and thereby removing a major long them source of conflict in the region, US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Earle D. Litzenberger told reporters, Trend reports.
“So we look to support in that efforts as well. We have been providing assistance for the IDP community for over a decade. It is a significant amount of money, we provide job skills training, English language instruction and we’ve been building schools for the community. I have asked the USAID mission director to begin to look at how we can direct our assistance programs to helping the IDP community develop kind of job skills they will need to return successfully and build a new economic life in their homes. The area needs to be demined. We’ve recently announced a donation of $500,000, a small, modest initial donation to the region to help demine all areas affected by the conflict. We’re looking at other ways that we can help. A US non-profit organization, the Marshall Legacy Institute has been working with ANAMA and the government and they’re providing a total of 30 mine-detection dogs. We’ve provided over $125 million to IDPs since 1992 and we will continue to support them,” he said.
The US also have some private demining firms that have been engaged in a long conversation with ANAMA, added the ambassador.
“I hope that they will be able to provide their state-of the-art technology and their world-class experience in demining to help accelerate that process as a first step towards helping the IDPs to return their homes," added Litzenberger.