RIA Novosti, Russia
April 7 2006

OSCE monitoring ceasefire on Armenia-Azerbaijan border
10:46 | 07/ 04/ 2006

YEREVAN, April 7 (RIA Novosti) – Officials from Europe’s largest
security organization conducted ceasefire monitoring Thursday along a
stretch of Armenian-Azerbaijani border, an Armenian defense ministry
spokesman said.

Seiran Shakhsuvaryan said officials from the Organization for
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) had registered incidents of
gunfire from Azerbaijan during the monitoring, conducted following
talks between OSCE representatives and an Armenian regional governor,
who said Azerbaijan had been shooting at the Idzhevan-Noemberyan
highway.

Previous monitoring scheduled for March 28 was cancelled because of
gunfire before it started. Azerbaijan and Armenia accused each other
of starting the firing. The two countries exchanged numerous
allegations of ceasefire violations in February and March on the
border near troubled Nagorny-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan with a
largely ethnic Armenian population.

Previous OSCE inspections this year in the conflict zone registered
no violations of the ceasefire regime.

The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorny Karabakh
first erupted in 1988, when the region claimed independence from
Azerbaijan to join Armenia.

Over 30,000 people were reported dead on both sides between 1988 and
1994, and over 100 others died after a ceasefire was concluded in
1994, leaving Nagorny Karabakh in Armenian hands, but tensions
between Azerbaijan and Armenia have persisted.