UN to send mission to Nagorno-Karabakh for first time in nearly 30 years
(VOVWORLD) - The United Nations will send a mission to Nagorno-Karabakh for the first time in about 30 years, scrambling to address humanitarian needs after Azerbaijan retook the territory and triggered a major refugee exodus, a spokesman has said.
 People are waiting to evacuate from Stepanakert, Nagorny-Karabakh on September 26. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
“The government of Azerbaijan and the UN have agreed on a mission to the region. The mission will take place over the weekend,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Friday.
A team of about a dozen people led by the UN’s humanitarian affairs department will assess the needs of people who have remained in the territory and those who are on the move, he added.
Armenia and Azerbaijan fought two wars in the 1990s and 2020 over the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which separated from Azerbaijan since pro-Armenian separatists took control of the area after the war in early 1990s. The 6-week war in the fall of 2020 between the two sides left more than 6,500 people dead, helping Azerbaijan regain part of its territory from the separatists.