UN mission arrives in Nagorno-Karabakh to assess humanitarian situation
Baku, Oct 1 (EFE).- A United Nations mission arrived Sunday in Nagorno-Karabakh to assess the humanitarian situation in the region, Azerbaijan president’s office told EFE.
More than 100,000 of the 120,000 inhabitants of Nagorno-Karabakh have fled to Armenia in the last one week,
The mission arrived in six white off-road vehicles with UN markings through the Agdam-Askeran road, according to video footage released by the local APA agency.
The UN Secretary-General’s spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric had announced Friday that the Azerbaijan government had agreed to allow a UN mission to Nagorno-Karabakh.
According to Dujarric, the mission is led by Ramesh Rajasingham, a senior official of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the coordinator residing in Azerbaijan, Vladanka Andreeva.
Following last week’s Azeri military operation that led to the capitulation of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic, the enclave has been virtually emptied of its population.
The Armenian government has accused Azerbaijan of carrying out an “ethnic cleansing” of Armenians.
The authorities at Baku have responded saying it did not force the Armenians to leave, but underlined that those who remain in Nagorno-Karabakh must abide by Azerbaijan’s laws. EFE
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