Washington D.C., Jun 19, 2018 / 15:52 pm
The United States Agency for International Development has announced it is investing $10 million into coalitions led by Catholic Relief Services and Heartland Alliance to help rebuild Christian and other minority communities in Iraq who suffered genocide under the Islamic State.
"In Iraq, although the coalition has largely driven ISIS from the battlefield, much of Northern Iraq now faces the daunting task of repairing broken infrastructure and rebuilding a shattered social fabric," said USAID Administrator Mark Green as he announced the funding at the Interaction Forum in Washington, D.C., June 14.
The announcement came one week after reports that Vice President Mike Pence was "incensed" over the "bureaucratic delays" in delivering aid promised to the Christian and Yazidi communities in Iraq.
The United States government will stop using "slow, ineffective and wasteful United Nations programs and to instead distribute assistance through USAID in order to provide faster and more direct aid to Christian and Yazidi communities in Iraq," according to the vice president's press secretary.