Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Moldovan, Azerbaijani presidents call on UN to help resolve separati

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Moldovan, Azerbaijani presidents call on UN to help resolve separati

    Moldovan, Azerbaijani presidents call on UN to help resolve separatist conflicts
    By CORNELIU RUSNAC

    The Associated Press
    04/21/05 12:10 EDT

    CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) - The presidents of Moldova and Azerbaijan
    called Thursday on the United Nations to discuss separatist conflicts
    in the two ex-Soviet countries.

    "We are countries who have suffered from aggressive separatism,"
    said Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliev, who met with his Moldovan
    counterpart, Vladimir Voronin, during a visit to the Moldovan capital,
    Chisinau.

    Separatist movements in Moldova and Azerbaijan have hampered the two
    countries' development since they became independent in 1991. Facing
    similar problems, the countries' leaders vowed to collaborate in
    resolving their conflicts.

    Increased involvement by the international community would also help,
    though, Aliev said.

    "The truth and the international laws are on our side," Aliev said.

    The two presidents also pledged to boost economic ties and to
    collaborate on their countries' European integration.

    Aliev was in Chisinau to take part in a meeting of a regional
    organization known as GUUAM, which groups the ex-Soviet countries of
    Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova.

    The group was established in 1997 in a bid to seek economic cooperation
    outside the influence of Russia.

    The summit on Friday will also be attended by Ukrainian President
    Viktor Yushchenko and Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili.
    Romania's President Traian Basescu and the president of Lithuania,
    Valdas Adamkus, will also participate as observers.

    Moldova has struggled for years to reach a settlement with
    its separatists in the eastern, Russian-speaking province of
    Trans-Dniester. A brief war in 1992 left more than 1,500 people dead.
    Trans-Dniester is not recognized internationally, but receives support
    from Russia, which has troops in the province.

    Azerbaijan has faced ethic strife in Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous
    region that has been under the control of ethnic Armenians since the
    early 1990s, following fighting that killed an estimated 30,000 people.

    A cease-fire was signed in 1994, but the enclave's final political
    status has not been determined and shooting breaks out frequently
    across a demilitarized buffer zone.
Working...
X