THE MINSK GROUP BLAMES AZERBAIJAN ON OSCE MONITORING BREAKDOWN
PanARMENIAN.Net
05.03.2009 22:19 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Charge d’Affaires of the US Mission to the OSCE,
Kyle Scott, issued the following statement in the OSCE’s Permanent
Council today on behalf of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group,
Ambassadors Bernard Fassier of France, Yury Merzlyakov of Russia and
Matthew Bryza of the United States.
"On behalf of the Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, France, the
Russian Federation and the United States, I have the following
statement to make:
The Minsk Group Co-Chairs condemn the shooting incident near Goradiz
along the Line of Contact on February 26, when shots were fired during
a monitoring mission carried out by the Personal Representative of
the Chair-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk.
We call on the parties to adhere scrupulously to the ceasefire and
express our deep regret that over 30 people have died and 50 have
been wounded in 2008 as a result of ceasefire violations.
We condemn in the strongest terms the violation of the ceasefire during
the course of an OSCE monitoring mission, particularly given that local
commanders provided written security guarantees to the OSCE monitoring
mission just prior to their monitoring activities on February 26.
We call for an explanation from the parties for how such an egregious
violation of the ceasefire could have taken place.
We regret that not all of the parties agreed to the recommendation
made by the Minsk Group Co-Chairs at the Ministerial Council meeting
in Helsinki in December 2008 to pull snipers back from the Line
of Contact.
We express full support and admiration for the work of Personal
Representative Kasprzyk and his team, and underline the importance
of monitoring the Line of Contact as a confidence building measure
between the sides."