Colonna, Blinken US urge 'immediate' end to Karabakh blockade

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France and the United States have demanded the "immediate" reopening of a key corridor to the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, the French Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Since mid-December, a group of Azerbaijanis has been blocking the only road into Karabakh from Armenia to protest what they claim is illegal mining causing environmental damage.

As a result, the mountainous region of some 120,000 people has been running short of food, medicines, and fuel.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and her US counterpart Antony Blinken in a telephone call on Thursday "stressed the need to immediately re-establish free circulation along the Lachin Corridor," the French Foreign Ministry said.

"The grave humanitarian consequences of the current blockading of Nagorno-Karabakh are unacceptable," it added.

Amnesty International on Thursday urged Azerbaijani forces to unblock the road immediately to end the "humanitarian crisis".

Armenia and Azerbaijan complain to UN court

In late January, Azerbaijan asked the United Nation's top court to order Armenia to stop laying landmines, in a legal battle over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The complaint by Baku came a day after Yerevan complained to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague about alleged "ethnic cleansing" by Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Elnur Mammadov told judges that Armenia had planted 2,700 mines since a peace deal to end a war over the region in 2020.

Mammadov urged the ICJ to "stop the continued murder and maiming of Azerbaijanis on the basis of their ethnic and national origin by explosive devices recently planted by the republic of Armenia."

The Azerbaijani official also claimed that Armenia had also planted "booby traps built with tripwires to kill any Azerbaijanis returning home" after being displaced.

On its part, Armenia asked the ICJ to order Azerbaijan to end a blockade of Karabakh which it said was depriving residents of food and medicines.

In 2020, another war between Yerevan and Baku killed more than 6,500 and ended with a Russian-brokered truce that saw Armenia cede territories it had controlled for decades.

Both countries want the court to take emergency measures. Judges are expected to decide within months on the measures, but an overall judgment will take years.

The court -- which was set up after World War II to rule on disputes between UN member states -- in December 2021 ordered both Armenia and Azerbaijan to avoid aggravating their feud.

Yerevan accuses Baku of provoking an exodus of Armenians

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had accused Baku of exerting "economic and psychological pressure to provoke an exodus of Armenians from Karabakh."

Pashinyan said Nagorno-Karabakh has been subjected to a blockade by a group of alleged Azeri environmental activists who have been blocking the only route into the region from Armenia since December 12, 2022, under the pretext of protesting illegal mining activities causing environmental damage.

According to the Premier, kindergartens, schools, and universities have been closed in Karabakh due to the blockade, with thousands of students "being denied their fundamental right to education."

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev rejected the accusations as "groundless, false, and absurd," adding that the Russian peacekeepers and the Red Cross ensured the supply of crucial goods to Karabakh, including food and medicine.

It is noteworthy that in late December 2022, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to resolve the issue they have over the Lachin corridor by holding talks on the matter in a bid to enable safe and free movement at the nearest opportunity possible.

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