Boutros-Ghali urges Armenia to pull out troops<\/p>\n
BAKU (AFP): UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali called
\non Armenia yesterday to withdraw its troops from Azerbaijani
\nterritory while hinting at possible United Nations involvement in
\na peacekeeping plan to separate the warring republics.<\/p>\n
At the start of a three-nation tour to the Transcaucasus,
\nBoutros-Ghali said in an open meeting with Azerbaijani Foreign
\nMinister Gasan Gasanov in the capital Baku, he \"will reiterate
\nthe United Nations' position which is: the territorial integrity
\nof the member states and the immediate withdrawal of Armenian
\ntroops from Azerbaijani territory.\"<\/p>\n
On his first visit to Azerbaijan since it gained independence
\nthree years ago, Boutros-Ghali was given a tough introduction to
\nthe results of the republic's six-year war with neighboring
\nArmenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, when he
\nvisited the Allee Shakhidov war cemetery, located on a hill above
\nBaku overlooking the Caspian sea.<\/p>\n
\"I've lost my son, I don't want any more fighting. I want
\npeace,\" an Azeri woman dressed in black, standing next to her
\nson's gravestone, tearfully told the UN secretary general.<\/p>\n
A cease-fire brokered by Russia has held for six months in
\nKarabakh, an enclave situated inside Azerbaijan but populated by
\nan ethnic Armenian majority, which has raised hopes of a
\nsettlement to the conflict.<\/p>\n
A Russian proposal to send its own peacekeeping troops to
\nKarabakh has been consistently ruled out by Azerbaijan which
\nfears a Russian force would merely cement the republic's
\nterritorial losses.<\/p>\n
Azerbaijan's pressure on the Conference for Security and
\nCooperation in Europe (CSCE), to deploy an \"international\"
\npeacekeeping force to separate the warring sides in Karabakh,
\nappears to have paid off after the CSCE proposed a 1,600-2,000
\nstrong peacekeeping force earlier this month -- the first in the
\nCSCE's short history.<\/p>\n
Boutros-Ghali said the CSCE's lack of peacekeeping experience
\nshould \"not be an obstacle to a presence of the CSCE to solve the
\nsituation (in Karabakh).\"<\/p>\n
The secretary general affirmed the United Nations would assist
\nthe CSCE-sponsored peace plan and hinted at a possible UN role in
\nthe proposed peacekeeping operation, saying the United Nations
\nwould \"participate in a real presence on the ground.\"<\/p>\n
UN representative to Azerbaijan Mahmoud El-Said said the
\nUnited Nations would provide \"technical help\" for any CSCE
\npeacekeeping effort but it was not yet clear what form this would
\ntake.<\/p>\n
But standing in the way of a peace agreement is Armenia's
\ncontinued refusal to evacuate the strategically vital Lachin
\n\"corridor\" and the town of Shusha.<\/p>\n
Lachin forms a vital land link between Armenia and the
\ndisputed territory while Shusha, situated above the Karabakh
\ncapital of Stepanakert, was used to rain shells and rockets on
\nthe latter's Armenian inhabitants until it was captured by
\nArmenian forces in 1992.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Gasanov urged Boutros-Ghali to raise the
\nissue of Lachin and Shusha with the Armenian government when he
\ntravels to Yerevan next week.<\/p>\n
An Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman said, \"...Without
\nLachin or Shusha, it (a peace agreement) will not be possible.\"<\/p>",
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