Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia and Azerbaijan announce new “ceasefire”

 

Peace, soon back to Nagorno-Karabakh? This Sunday, October 25, Armenia and Azerbaijan revealed that they had come to an agreement on the establishment of a new “humanitarian ceasefire” in the conflict in Nagorny Karabakh. A decision announced in a joint statement with the United States after negotiations in Washington. US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met with foreign ministers of the two countries on Saturday, as US diplomacy said in a statement, while Iran has deployed troops to its borders with the two country.

The day before, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had received his Azerbaijani counterparts Djeyhoun Baïramov then Armenian Zohrab Mnatsakanian but without a three-way meeting. “The humanitarian ceasefire will come into effect at 8:00 am local time (04:00 GMT) on October 26,” according to the statement released by the US State Department. The two countries accuse each other of having targeted the civilian population since the start of hostilities on September 27 in this mountainous region of Azerbaijan controlled by Armenian separatists supported by Yerevan.

The truce had not held

This is not the first time that they have committed to a truce. The joint declaration also underlines that the two ministers “reaffirmed the commitment of their countries to implement and respect the humanitarian ceasefires concluded in Moscow on October 10 and confirmed in a declaration published in Paris on October 17. “. But the truce has not held up so far. Washington is part, along with France and Russia, of the Minsk Group long formed by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to be the main mediator in this conflict.

Source

You may also like