Azerbaijan forces tightened their grip on the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh today as international concern mounted over the plight of ethnic Armenian civilians trapped there.
As the first Red Cross aid convoy crossed into the disputed enclave since Azerbaijan launched this week's lightning offensive, government forces said rebel"demilitarisation" had begun.
Government forces displayed an arsenal of infantry weapons, including sniper rifles, hundreds of Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and four tanks painted with cross insignia, that they said they had seized from the separatists. If the ceasefire holds, it could mark the end of a conflict between the Christian and Muslim Caucasus rivals that has raged, off and on, through the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Senator Gary Peters of Michigan used binoculars to look across the border towards Russian peacekeeper positions, as Azerbaijani trucks could be seen transporting material for a new highway being built as the government secures the region.
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