Associated Press Worldstream
July 19, 2004 Monday 2:58 PM Eastern Time

Nagorno-Karabakh hands over Azerbaijani serviceman

BAKU, Azerbaijan

Authorities in the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave said Monday that they
handed over an Azerbaijani soldier who they said had been detained
when he crossed a cease-fire line last month.

The handover of the 19-year-old serviceman, detained June 30, was
carried out after consultaions with reprsentatives of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, a commission on prisoners
of war in Nagorno-Karabakh said. It said Azerbiajiani authorities
agreed to the handover.

Armenian-backed forces won control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a largely
ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan, in a 1988-94 war that killed
some 30,000 people and drove a million from their homes.

Despite a cease-fire, the two countries continue to face off across a
heavily fortified no man’s land, and shooting occasionally erupts. No
final settlement has been reached, and the conflict continues to
aggravate economic troubles and threaten unrest in Armenia and
Azerbaijan.