(Editor's note: The following statement by the U.S. Department of State is provided to further public understanding of U.S. foreign policy toward African security. U.S. Africa Command plays a subordinate role to the State Department in supporting U.S. diplomacy) Question: How much non-humanitarian assistance was Madagascar to receive from the United States before the coup caused the United States to suspend that assistance? Answer: Total U.S. assistance to Madagascar in FY 2008 was $86.2 million, of which approximately 85 percent was non-emergency. Included in this figure are emergency relief funds for natural disasters, as well as $27.3 million in Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) funds for poverty reduction projects and activities. The FY 2009 State and USAID request for Madagascar is $34.526 million, which does not include MCC or emergency assistance. President Obama signed the FY 2009 Omnibus bill on March 11, 2009. We are currently in the process of working with the Congress to set FY 2009 country-by-country account allocations, but we have not yet apportioned a specific sum of FY 2009 assistance for Madagascar. We have not yet determined what programs will be suspended in FY 2009 or how much humanitarian aid the U.S. will provide for Madagascar.