After the end of Azerbaijan’s military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh, the first aid convoy arrived in the Caucasus region today. A journalist from the AFP news agency saw trucks from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) pass through the Armenian border post at Kornidzor. The vehicles loaded with “70 tonnes of humanitarian supplies” “passed through the Lachin corridor” and were transporting people “mainly humanitarian goods and food”, local ICRC spokeswoman Zara Amatuni told AFP.
Portal/Irakli Gedenidze
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and humanitarian assistance to the people living there have recently caused international concern. US officials have accused President Ilham Aliyev’s authoritarian leadership of creating “a humanitarian catastrophe in Nagorno-Karabakh.”
“Terrible” humanitarian situation
A spokeswoman for pro-Armenian authorities described the humanitarian situation as “dire”. In the regional capital, Stepanakert, “there is no electricity, no gas, no food, no fuel, no internet and telephone connection”. An AFP reporter reported shortages of food, water, medicine and gasoline.
This week, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh. A ceasefire agreement was reached, after which pro-Armenian fighters began handing over weapons, according to Russian sources. Previously, the de facto authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh said they had accepted negotiations with Baku to integrate the region into neighboring Azerbaijan.
Nagorno-Karabakh belongs to Azerbaijan under international law, but the area is predominantly populated by Armenians. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been fighting over the enclave since the collapse of the Soviet Union and have fought two wars, the most recent in 2020.