More than 28,000 refugees have fled Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian breakaway enclave defeated in a lightning offensive by Azerbaijan last week, Armenia said on Tuesday.
Azerbaijan opened the only road leading from the region to Armenia on Sunday, four days after the rebels agreed to disarm under the terms of a ceasefire agreement that puts the disputed region under Baku’s control.
Some 28,120 refugees have so far fled Nagorno-Karabakh. As the refugees flooded into Armenia, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for their rights to be protected.
“The Secretary-General is very concerned about the displacement of people we are seeing to Armenia,” Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. “First of all, it’s essential that the rights of the displaced populations be protected and that they receive humanitarian support.”
Later Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev that he must protect civilians still in Nagorno-Karabakh and allow for humanitarian aid to reach them there.
Blinken “underscored the urgency of no further hostilities, that there be unconditional protections and freedom of movement for civilians, that there be unhindered humanitarian access to Nagorno Karabakh", State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
