UN Security Council discusses Nagorno-Karabakh fighting
US Security Council members called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to respect a fresh ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh throughout a meeting on the disputed region Monday.
The council held closed-door discussions on the fighting, which includes left hundreds dead since clashes erupted on September 27, at the UN headquarters in New York.
Through the meeting -- that was requested by France, Russia and America -- the council's 15 members reiterated a plea by UN chief Antonio Guterres for parties to honor a fresh ceasefire.
"Everyone was saying a similar thing: the problem is bad and both sides have to pull back and heed the Secretary-General's demands a ceasefire," a UN diplomat told AFP.
Russia, which currently holds the council's rotating presidency, is working on a statement that would demand adherence to the ceasefire, diplomats say.
The written text -- which is likely to be agreed between council members this week -- will also call on Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume negotiations facilitated by the Minsk Group.
Russia, France, and the united states chair the Minsk Group, which was created by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in 1992 to discover a solution to the territorial conflict.
Nagorno-Karabakh is a breakaway region of Azerbaijan mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians and backed by Armenia.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, two former Soviet republics in the Caucasus, have fought sporadically over the spot since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Ethnic Armenian separatists seized the Nagorno-Karabakh region from Baku in a 1990s war that claimed 30,000 lives.
The US passed four resolutions on the conflict in the first 1990s.
The current fighting may be the worst in the decades-long dispute since 2016.
The brand new ceasefire, backed by international mediators, was struggling to carry on Monday as both sides accused each other of fresh attacks.
It was the next agreed upon after a previous truce thrashed out in Moscow earlier this month never showed any sign of seriously holding. -- AFP
