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Back to Embassy Press Realeases PRESS RELEASE Armenian Assembly, U.S. NGO Kick-Off Mine-Detection Program in ArmeniaOn September 12, the Armenian Embassy in Washington, DC hosted a ceremony marking the donation of $100,000 by the Armenian Assembly of American to the Marshall Legacy Institute, towards canine training in the humanitarian demining project in Armenia. The Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) leads a private-public partnership to provide dogs to needy countries to detect landmines and accelerate the pace of mine clearance operations. The Institute combines contributions from private donors with matching funds from the U.S. Government to train local handlers/leaders in establishing sustainable demining programs in affected states. The program was proposed by the MLI and the U.S. State Department’s Office of Humanitarian Demining to the Armenian Government in January 2002, and will provide six specially trained mine-sniffing dogs and adequate training to dog handlers through the Armenian Defense Ministry Demining Center in Ejmiatsin, Armenia. Similar programs have been implemented by the MLI in Eritrea, Lebanon, and Nicaragua. Mine-sniffing dogs are especially useful in detecting and removing the plastic mines, typically undetectable by standard equipment. The Armenian Government accepted the MLI proposal, in view of the acute mine clearance problem in Armenia. According to the government estimates, there are nearly 100,000 mines left along Armenia’s east and southeast border regions, as a result of the armed phase of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in 1992-1994. These mines are an ongoing source of danger to the life and property of the Armenian citizens living in the border zones. The Armenian Assembly of America donated $100,000 to the program, which will be matched by $300,000 in U.S. State Department funds, for creating infrastructure and effective training. Armenian Assembly’s Executive Director John Jamian and Board of Directors Vice Chair Annie Totah presented the symbolic $100,000 check to Mr. Perry Baltimore, Executive Director of MLI. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Anthony Lake, former National Security Adviser to President Bill Clinton, MLI Founder and Chairman Emeritus Gen. Gordon Sullivan (Ret.), Armenian Ambassador to the U.S., Dr. Arman Kirakossian, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Robert Maggi and other State Department officials, representatives of the MLI, Armenian Assembly, Armenian National Committee of America, members of the Armenian-American community. |