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US to announce aid for Georgia

The administration of US President George W. Bush was to announce yesterday a package of roughly US$1 billion in aid to help rebuild war-torn ally Georgia, an administration official said.

The announcement was readied as Vice President Dick Cheney headed for Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine in a trip designed to show Washington stands by its allies in the region despite Russia’s military intervention in Georgia.

The planned aid to Georgia would stretch over several years, the administration official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday that the US was considering how it might provide economic support for Georgia, which saw much of its infrastructure attacked by Russia during the brief war over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

“One of the real ripple effects of Russia’s action has been the need for the outside world to help Georgia and its economy,” McCormack said.

The amount of the aid package appears to dovetail with a proposal by Senator Joe Biden, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee. He has called for Congress to approve US$1 billion in assistance for Georgia — a proposal endorsed by the Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Barack Obama.

The Bush administration is also pondering whether to take moves to punish Moscow for the Georgian intervention, such as possibly scrapping a lucrative civil nuclear deal.

Russia sparked Western condemnation by sending its forces deep into Georgia last month after Tbilisi tried to retake South Ossetia by force. Moscow later recognized South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as independent states.

Cheney was to begin his trip in Azerbaijan, then head to Georgia and from there to Kiev for meetings with Ukraine’s pro-Western government, which like Tbilisi is defying Moscow by seeking membership in NATO.

Azerbaijan and Georgia are links in the chain of a Western-backed energy corridor that bypasses Russia, but which the West fears could be in jeopardy after last month’s war.

In related news, A NATO delegation, including representatives of the alliance’s 26 members and led by its secretary general, will visit Georgia on Sept. 15 and Sept. 16, NATO diplomats said yesterday.

The delegation “will carry out a two-day visit on these dates as part of intensive contacts that NATO leaders decided to have with Georgia and Ukraine during their summit in early April,” a diplomat said.

It would be made up of the military alliance’s North Atlantic Council, which consists of members’ ambassadors to NATO and Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.

The visit had been planned for “a long time,” and was therefore not a direct consequence of the clash between Russia and Georgia, the diplomat said.

Meanwhile a third US Navy ship carrying humanitarian aid is crossing the Turkish Straits on its way to Georgia.

The USS Mount Whitney steamed through the Dardanelles early yesterday and was expected to pass through the Bosporus later in the day.

The ship is the third US Navy vessel the military said would take supplies such as blankets, hygiene kits and baby food to Georgia.

Also See: Who wants Cold War II?
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