UN GA CALLS ON CONDUCT OF ECOLOGICAL OPERATIONS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRES
Author: A.Mammadov

TREND Information, Azerbaijan
Sept 8 2006

On Thursday (7 September) the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution
with consensus (without vote) "The situation in the occupied territory
of Azerbaijan" submitted by the Azerbaijani delegation, Trend reports
citing ITAR-TASS.

The Assembly voiced its concerns on the fires in the occupied territory
of Azerbaijan and called for the urgent ecological operations to
extinguish them and prevent fatalities. The General Assembly took into
consideration the OSCE’s intention to send a mission to the region
to estimate the impact of the fire to the environment in preparation
of an ecological operation. It welcomed the willingness of both sides
to co-operate in this respect and called such an operation a measure
of confidence consolidation.

The General Assembly called on the UN Environment Program to render
assistance with the OSCE, as well as in estimating the short- and
long-term results of the environment in the region and resistance to
them and their rehabilitation. It asked the OSCE Chairman-in-office
to present to the UN Member of States a report on the issue up to 30
April 2007.

In his address on behalf of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, a
U.S. representative, Alexandro Woolf, underlined that Russia, France
and the United States are still loyal to the peaceful resolution
of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "In this respect we seriously
regard the concern voiced by both the two conflict on threats to the
stability and security of the region, which pose new obstacles in the
negotiations process," the U.S. diplomat underlined. He voiced their
Minsk Group co-chairs’ readiness, together with the special envoy of
the OSCE Chairman-in-office, to render assistance in the organization
of the OSCE mission with the support of UNEP.

Russia, France and the United States hope that ‘the goodwill spirit
demonstrated by Armenia and Azerbaijan during the work over the
resolution testifies the readiness of both sides to take additional
measures to consolidate matters, which would support the talks,"
Woolf underlined. He reminded that over the past 2 years the OSCE
Minsk Group co-chairs carried out intensive work with Armenia and
Azerbaijan over the definition of major principles of the agreement
which would lead to fair and durable resolutions". The July Summit of
G8 held in St. Petersburg called on the Presidents of Azerbaijan and
Armenia to take these principles as a basis for the resolution of the
conflict. "Today we again appeal strongly and state the Government’s
readiness in rendering its full support to the achievement and
implementation of the peace agreement," the U.S. diplomat stated.