The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called on Tuesday on politicians in Azerbaijan and Armenia to let its humanitarian aid convoys enter the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been blocked for weeks, to provide aid to civilians
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th July, 2023) The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called on Tuesday on politicians in Azerbaijan and Armenia to let its humanitarian aid convoys enter the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which has been blocked for weeks, to provide aid to civilians.
"Despite persistent efforts, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is not currently able to bring humanitarian assistance to the civilian population through the Lachin corridor or through any other routes, including Aghdam. The organisation is calling on the relevant decision makers to allow the ICRC to resume its essential humanitarian operations in the area," the committee said in a statement.
It has been several weeks since the last time the ICRC was allowed to bring medical and food items to the population of Nagorno-Karabakh, the organization added.
The ICRC expressed its concern that the humanitarian situation in the area would further deteriorate, stressing the importance of the organization's humanitarian aid for the region's population.
On July 11, Azerbaijan's State Border Service said that the traffic through the Lachin checkpoint had been suspended due to an investigation into alleged smuggling by the ICRC. The organization said it regretted that four hired drivers, who were not ICRC staff members, had tried to transport some commercial goods in their own vehicles which were temporarily displaying the ICRC emblem. The Armenian Foreign Ministry, in turn, called on the international community to make additional efforts to lift the ongoing blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The Lachin corridor is the only land route linking Armenia and the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two wars over disputed Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-majority mountainous region wedged in between the two nations where both have a military presence. The decades-long conflict reignited in fall 2020, marking the worst escalation since the 1990s. Hostilities ended in a Russia-brokered ceasefire and the deployment of Russian peacekeepers to the region.
