Easy Bourse (Communiqués de presse), France
Sept 8 2006
UN Asked To Aid Firefighting Effort In Nagorno-Karabakh
Friday September 8th, 2006 / 6h33
UNITED NATIONS (AP)–The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution
calling for the U.N. to urgently assist in preventing environmental
damage from fires in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Armenia disassociated itself from the resolution, which was approved
Thursday without a vote, and expressed concern at its title, "the
situation in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan."
The mountainous territory in Azerbaijan has been controlled – along
with some surrounding areas – by Karabakh and Armenian forces since
1994. Nagorno-Karabakh has been governed by a shaky cease-fire that
in 1994 ended a six-year separatist war.
The resolution stressed "the necessity to urgently conduct an
environmental operation to suppress the fires." It took note of the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s intention to
organize a mission to the region to assess the short-term and
long-term impact of the fires.
Nagorno-Karabakh is inside Azerbaijan, but is populated mostly by
ethnic Armenians, who have run it and seven contiguous districts
since the 1994 truce. Sporadic border clashes regularly break out and
the unresolved conflict has held up development in the strategic
region.
Azerbaijan’s U.N. Ambassador Yashar Aliyev introduced the draft
resolution, saying that in early June Azerbaijan registered massive
fires in the eastern part of the territory occupied by Armenia, and
by August the fire had damaged more than 600 square kilometers.
After the vote, he thanked everyone who supported the resolution,
expressing dismay that Armenia disassociated itself from the text
which had been negotiated with its diplomats over 48 hours. As a
minimum, he said, it was "honest and appropriate."
Armenia’s U.N. Ambassador, Armen Martirosyan, said that although he
supported the content of the resolution, he had serious problems with
its title and opposed bringing any Nagorno-Karabakh issue to the
United Nations.
U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff, speaking on behalf of the
OSCE group dealing with the Nagorno-Karabakh issue – the U.S., France
and Russia – said the three countries remain committed to promoting a
peaceful, negotiated solution to the conflict between Armenia and
Azerbaijan.