UN Chief regrets Armenia, Azerbaijan regularly ignoring calls for ceasefire

The fighting on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh have been ongoing since September 27, with Yerevan and Baku accusing each other of starting the firing.

New York: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed his regrets over the fact that Armenia and Azerbaijan have repeatedly ignored the international community’s calls for ceasing hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement on Sunday.

“The Secretary-General deeply regrets that the sides have continuously ignored the repeated calls of the international community to immediately stop the fighting. As he underscored again in his latest calls with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, both sides have the obligation under international humanitarian law to take constant care to spare and protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in the conduct of military operations,” the statement said.

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The UN chief expects the conflicting parties to fully abide by commitments under the recent humanitarian truce and immediately resume substantive negotiations under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Minsk Group.

“The Secretary-General condemns all attacks on populated areas impacted by the conflict. The tragic loss of civilian lives, including children, from the latest reported strike on 16 October on the city of Ganja is totally unacceptable, as are indiscriminate attacks on populated areas anywhere, including in Stepanakert/Khankendi and other localities in and around the immediate Nagorno-Karabakh zone of conflict,” the statement added.

The fighting on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh have been ongoing since September 27, with Yerevan and Baku accusing each other of starting the firing. The hours-long talks between foreign ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan held in Moscow last week led to a humanitarian ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh that started on October 10. However, hostilities resumed on the same day. A new truce has been reached and came into force at 20:00 GMT this Saturday, but the sides have immediately blamed each other for violating it.