UN official urges Armenia to submit mine maps to Azerbaijan
By Vafa Ismayilova
UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Ghulam Isaczai has called on Armenia to cooperate with Azerbaijan and transfer maps of minefields on liberated territories, Trend has reported.
The UN official made the remarks in an online webinar.
"The issue of de-mining the territories is very important from the point of view of their further restoration. We stand for cooperation between Azerbaijan and Armenia in this issue," he said.
Isaczai also focused on the UN's role as a mediator in resolving the problem.
“The UN has already acted as a mediator in this issue and will continue to work in this sphere. After the end of the second Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh war, the UN took part in the process of assessing the level of mining in the liberated territories,” he said.
Azerbaijani territories liberated from Armenia's occupation in a 44-war in autumn 2020 are currently being demined at a high pace. Azerbaijan’s Mine Action Agency experts demine the territories intended for building roads and infrastructure facilities, and for laying cable communication lines. Later, the territories aimed for cropping will be cleared of mines.
Some 21 Azerbaijani citizens, including 14 civilians were killed and 87 citizens, 16 civilians were injured in mine explosions in liberated lands since the signing of the Karabakh peace deal on November 10, 2020.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev earlier described Armenia’s failure to provide the mine maps as the main difficulty for Azerbaijani IPDs to return to their homes. He said that this is yet another war crime by Armenia as several servicemen and civilians were killed in mine blasts on the liberated territories after the war.
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