Temporary restart of some mine clearance projects supported by the US
Norwegian People's Aid has been informed by the US Department of State (USDOS) that work in some projects supported by the US can be temporarily resumed.
This applies to nine projects, and is not a general exception for all US-backed explosives clearance. The nine projects are in Ukraine, Iraq, Laos, Peru, Cambodia, Vietnam and Palau. Efforts are now being made to temporarily resume our mine clearance and other explosive ordnance and munitions handling and destruction activities on the US-funded projects in these countries. Norwegian People's Aid is still waiting for clarification on some practical issues before the work starts up again.
Norwegian People's Aid still does not know what the final outcome of the ongoing evaluation of the United States will be.
The American evaluation will determine which, if any, projects will be allowed to continue after the evaluation period, and Norwegian People's Aid still does not know what the conditions will be for a possible continued cooperation with the American authorities after the freeze period.
Norwegian People's Aid has previously announced the dismissal of up to 1700 employees due to the uncertainty surrounding future funding of US-funded projects. Norwegian People's Aid is pleased that there has been a temporary exemption from the freeze for these nine projects, but does not yet have complete clarity on how our staffing will be affected by the limited exemption from the funding freeze