Minsk Group blames Azerbaijan on OSCE monitoring breakdown

Minsk Group blames Azerbaijan on OSCE monitoring breakdown

06.03.2009 13:45

Yerevan (Yerkir) – The Charge d’Affaires of the US Mission to the OSCE,
Kyle Scott, issued the following statement in the OSCE’s Permanent
Council on March 5 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.

"The Minsk Group Co-Chairs condemn the shooting incident near Horadiz
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."