In the wake of Vice President Mike Pence’s announcement last October that the United States government would provide direct aid to persecuted Iraqi Christians struggling to rebuild following the liberation of the Nineveh Plains, the Trump administration has taken concrete steps to follow through on its promises.
Trump’s administration announced that it has renegotiated an agreement with the U.N. to ensure that vulnerable Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities victimized by the Islamic State in Iraq will get the U.N. assistance they were previously denied.
The administration has also announced that it’s accepting proposals by private organizations on the ground in Iraq to receive direct assistance from the U.S. government to rebuild the ancestral homelands of Christians and other minorities destroyed by the jihadi death cult.
According to a press release sent out by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the agency has ensured that $55 million of its $75 million payment to the U.N. Development Program Funding Facility for Stabilization in Iraq “will address the needs of vulnerable religious and ethnic minority communities” in the Nineveh Province.
USAID has been granted more oversight to ensure that the U.N. funding marked for minorities is spent effectively.
“The modified agreement ensures that the U.S. contribution will help the populations of liberated areas in Ninewa Province resume normal lives by restoring services such as water, electricity, sewage, health, and education,” the release explains.
The $75 million payment is the first portion of a $150 million allotment designated for FFS, which was announced by U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Douglas Silliman last July. According to USAID, “fulfillment of the rest of that pledge will depend on UNDP’s success in putting in place additional accountability, transparency, and due-diligence measures for the FFS.”
