GEORGIA: EU considers deploying more observers and stronger international involvement, says EU envoy Peter Semneby, after skirmishes intensify along the contact line Caucasus enclave of Nagorno-Karabkh

Record ID: 217986

  • Title: GEORGIA: EU considers deploying more observers and stronger international involvement, says EU envoy Peter Semneby, after skirmishes intensify along the contact line Caucasus enclave of Nagorno-Karabkh
  • Date: 9th September 2010
  • Summary: TBILISI, GEORGIA (SEPTEMBER 7, 2010) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SCENES) HOTEL TBILISI MARRIOTT EXTERIOR EU ENVOY IN SOUTH CAUCASUS, PETER SEMNEBY, WALKING INTO HOTEL LOUNGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) EU ENVOY IN SOUTH CAUCASUS, PETER SEMNEBY, SAYING: "It is a precarious situation that we are in, that we have along the line of contact because it is, after all, a self regulated ceasef
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ADD6UMCHHDNFUSLTHVP3KEUS
  • Story Text: Intensified skirmishes around the rebel Caucasus enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh risk spiralling out of control in the heart of a key energy transit region, a senior European Union envoy warned late on Tuesday (September 7).
    Peter Semneby, the EU's envoy to the South Caucasus, said the ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh should be strengthened, possibly with the deployment of more international observers after a summer of intensified skirmishes. Four Azeri soldiers were killed last week.
    "It is a precarious situation that we are in, that we have along the line of contact because it is, after all, a self regulated ceasefire with the two parties facing each other without any separation force in between," Semneby told Reuters late on Tuesday in Tbilisi after a trip to Azerbaijan.
    Renewed conflict almost certainly would have an impact on energy supplies to the West, with Azerbaijan host to oil majors including BP, ExxonMobil and Chevron.
    "It demonstrates the need now to step up the diplomatic activities to move the negotiations back on track again after a period, after a very difficult period in the last two months," Semneby said.
    Clashes have worsened since 2008 around the mountain enclave, where ethnic Armenian Christians, backed by Armenia, threw off rule by Muslim Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed two decades ago.
    The diplomat said the ceasefire regime should be strengthened along the contact lines of troops and did not rule out the one possibility of deploying more observers, saying the six-person monitoring mission of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was limited in its ability to monitor and investigate.
    "Sooner or later there will have to be an involvement of the international community. The European Union is already playing a very important role in the region and I think it's actually an anomaly that the EU does not have a presence all in all in this particular conflict. The EU is actually playing quite an important role in other conflicts in the region," the EU diplomat said.
    Low intensity skirmishes have killed around 3,000 people, mainly soldiers, since 1994, but observers say clashes have become more frequent and intense since early 2008.
    Two Azeri soldiers were killed in fighting on Saturday (September 4) near rebel Nagorno-Karabakh region, in the second clash in days on the front lines of the enclave's conflict with Azerbaijan.
    Each side accused the other of launching "sabotage" attacks in the early hours of Saturday morning.
    The Nagorno-Karabakh army had said in a statement earlier that it had fought off an assault by an Azeri sabotage unit at the north-eastern section of the front line on Saturday morning.
    Military analysts warn that an Azeri military bid to retake the territory could be disastrous, with Nagorno-Karabakh heavily fortified since the war and holding the high ground.
    "I believe that the Azerbaijani leadership is aware of the enormous risks and potential costs that would be associated with an attempt to resolve the conflict by military means," Semneby said.
    Armenian-backed forces have held Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding Azeri districts forming a land corridor with Armenia since the ceasefire was declared in 1994. An estimated 30,000 people were killed and more than a million displaced.
    Years of OSCE mediation led by French, Russian and American envoys have failed to produce a peace deal and Azerbaijan -- spending heavily on its military with revenues from oil sales -- frequently threatens to take the region back by force.
    The BP-led Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline ships 850,000 barrels of Azeri crude daily to the Mediterranean, skirting Nagorno-Karabakh.
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