KORNIDZOR: Nagorno-Karabakh separatists were negotiating the end of their long struggle against Azerbaijani rule on Saturday, surrendering their weapons after a lightning government offensive.
If the ceasefire holds it will mark the end of a conflict between Caucasus rivals Armenia and Azerbaijan that has raged, off and on, through the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Moscow confirmed that the rebels had surrendered their first weapons and the process is expected to continue through the weekend, with the help of Russian peacekeepers.
Germany meanwhile called for the rights of the residents of the mountainous region to be guaranteed, as concern grew in the international community over the plight of the mainly Armenian-speaking civilians there.
A US congressional delegation was expected to meet Armenian leader Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to, in the words of the US embassy, discuss "the impact of Azerbaijan's recent military actions on the Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh".
The years of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh have been marked by abuses on both sides and there are fears of a new refugee crisis.
In the Armenian border town of Kornidzor, civilians have been gathering, some of them waiting for days, at the last checkpoint before Azerbaijani territory hoping for news of relatives stuck in the embattled enclave.
"I've been here for three days and nights, sleeping in my car," said 28-year-old Garik Zakarian, as displaced Armenians borrowed a soldier's telescope to scan a village on the other side of the valley.
It was shelled by Azerbaijani forces on Tuesday. No-one was killed, but witnesses who managed to escape report that 150 inhabitants were forced to take refuge close to a Russian peacekeeper base a kilometre from the last Armenian positions.
A spokeswoman for the Nagorno-Karabakh breakaway region said Friday that fearful civilians in the main city Stepanakert were hiding in their basements, with Azerbaijan's forces camped on the outskirts.
The situation there was "horrible", said Armine Hayrapetyan.
In the separatist stronghold, food, water, medicine and fuel for the panicked population were scarce and displaced people had arrived in the city from surrounding villages.
International pressure has mounted on Azerbaijan to re-open the only road leading to Armenia, dubbed the Lachin Corridor, so supplies and people can move in and out.
The separatists have said they are in Russian-mediated talks with Baku to organise the withdrawal process and the return of civilians displaced by the fighting. — AFP
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