ANS TV, Azerbaijan
March 16 2008

US rejected UN resolution on Karabakh not to damage peace talks –
envoy

The USA voted against an Azerbaijani-drafted resolution at the UN
General Assembly on 14 March as it could have damaged talks to
mediate a peaceful resolution of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict, ANS
TV has quoted the US ambassador to Azerbaijan as saying.

Anne Derse said that her country rejected the resolution because it
did not reflect a set of principles proposed by international
mediators.

"Had official Baku submitted a balanced resolution reflective of the
proposed principles, America would have supported it," Derse was
quoted as saying. "The White House voted against the resolution, as
it feared that the resolution could have damaged the peace process."

The ambassador reiterated the US support for Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity but said Washington wanted to see a "balanced" resolution
of the conflict.

The UN General Assembly approved the draft resolution "On the
situation in Azerbaijan’s occupied territories", demanding that all
Armenian forces immediately pull out of Nagornyy Karabakh and
surrounding districts of Azerbaijan.

The USA voted against the resolution, as did the two other countries
mediating the peace talks – France and Russia. Only 39 out of 192
members of the UN General Assembly voted for the draft. Seven voted
against and 100 abstained.

Nagornyy Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan following a separatist
war in the early 1990s. The region has remained under Armenian
control along with seven adjacent districts of Azerbaijan.