Diplomatic efforts to end the fighting in and around Nagorno-Karabakh are struggling to bear fruit.
On the ground, clashes continue between Azerbaijan and the forces of this enclave supported by Armenia.
Azerbaijan said the city of Gandja was shelled by Armenian forces in the early hours of the day, Thursday, October 8, and that a civilian was killed in the Goranboy area.
Other villages have been targeted by forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, a separatist enclave with an Armenian majority.
The Azerbaijani authorities put forward a toll of 30 civilians killed since the resumption of the conflict on September 27.
Azerbaijan has provided no record for its possible military losses, while the Nagorno-Karabakh authorities report 350 dead in the ranks of their forces and 19 civilians killed.
Minsk group calls for an immediate end to hostilities
Discussions are to be held Thursday, October 8 in Geneva and Monday in Moscow as part of the efforts led by the Minsk Group, chaired since the 1990s by France, Russia and the United States to try to open negotiations.
Nagorno-Karabakh |
joint statement by the French 🇫🇷, Russian 🇷🇺 and American 🇺🇸 foreign ministers, co-chairs of the Minsk group
➡️ https://t.co/gJM5BMY0bS pic.twitter.com/1GJAaEkSGr
- France Diplomacy🇫🇷 (@francediplo) October 5, 2020
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Wednesday that the objective of Paris, Moscow and Washington was "to immediately stop hostilities without conditionality and that we open a negotiation".
"We are in daily contact with each other. For the moment, it has not been successful. There will be meetings tomorrow in Geneva and other meetings on Monday in Moscow and we hope that it will succeed. upon opening of negotiations. "
Jean-Yves Le Drian, who was speaking before the National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, did not say whether Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives would be present during these discussions, but Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov , announced that he would travel to Geneva on Thursday.
For its part, Armenia has let it be known that its foreign minister, Zohrab Mnatsakanian, will go to Moscow on Monday, but has ruled out meeting with Bayramov.
Towards an internationalization of the conflict
?
The fear of an internationalization of the conflict is fueled by Turkey's links with Azerbaijan, Paris even accusing Ankara of "military involvement" in Nagorno-Karabakh, and by the defense agreement between Russia and Armenia .
Armenia and Azerbaijan have so far ignored ceasefire calls made by the Minsk Group, tasked by the OSCE with mediating the conflict.
Frozen for years, the conflict between Azerbaijani forces and Armenian separatists in this mountainous enclave resumed on September 27 with an intensity unprecedented since the clashes that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
With Reuters
The summary of the week
France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR