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CLINTON VISITS AZERBAIJAN AMID BORDER CLASHES
Yahoo News
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13888593/clinton-visits-azerbaijan-amid-border-clashes/
June 6 2012
BAKU (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Azerbaijan
on Wednesday for talks aimed at strengthening relations with the
oil-rich state, amid a flare-up of violence on its border with Armenia.
Clinton arrived after gunbattles on the ex-Soviet states' mutual
border this week killed eight soldiers -- five Azerbaijanis and three
Armenians -- in one of the deadliest outbursts of violence in months.
The neighbours are locked in a bitter unresolved conflict over Nagorny
Karabakh, an Armenian-controlled enclave inside Azerbaijan that was
the focus of a bloody war in the 1990s.
Although this week's clashes erupted well to the north of the disputed
region, Clinton was expected to reiterate a call for both sides to
end the violence.
"The use of force will not resolve the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and
therefore force must not be used," she said during a visit to Yerevan
on Monday, pledging to deliver the same message to Azerbaijani leaders
in Baku.
Local media in both Azerbaijan and Armenia however said there had been
further exchanges of fire on Tuesday night, although no casualties
were reported.
After arriving in Baku, Clinton immediately went into talks with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at his palatial residence
overlooking the Caspian Sea.
The United States is a co-chair with Russia and France of the OSCE
Minsk Group, which was set up after the 1994 Karabakh ceasefire to
help bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
But the conflict has remained unresolved for nearly two decades,
leaving Armenia suffering economically due to closed borders with
Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey, while Baku has grown richer on its
Caspian Sea oil deposits.
The United States has sought to balance its relationship with both
countries, pressed on one side by the large American Armenian community
and Washington's strategic interests in the Caspian basin on the other.
Clinton planned to visit an oil and gas trade exposition being held
in Baku, highlighting the $8 billion that US energy companies have
invested in Azerbaijan since independence following the break-up of
the Soviet Union.
Also expected to come up in her talks is Iran, which shares a border
with Azerbaijan.
Although both countries are predominantly Shiite Muslim, there are
political tensions between Azerbaijan's secular leadership and Iran's
Islamic regime.
Yahoo News
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13888593/clinton-visits-azerbaijan-amid-border-clashes/
June 6 2012
BAKU (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Azerbaijan
on Wednesday for talks aimed at strengthening relations with the
oil-rich state, amid a flare-up of violence on its border with Armenia.
Clinton arrived after gunbattles on the ex-Soviet states' mutual
border this week killed eight soldiers -- five Azerbaijanis and three
Armenians -- in one of the deadliest outbursts of violence in months.
The neighbours are locked in a bitter unresolved conflict over Nagorny
Karabakh, an Armenian-controlled enclave inside Azerbaijan that was
the focus of a bloody war in the 1990s.
Although this week's clashes erupted well to the north of the disputed
region, Clinton was expected to reiterate a call for both sides to
end the violence.
"The use of force will not resolve the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and
therefore force must not be used," she said during a visit to Yerevan
on Monday, pledging to deliver the same message to Azerbaijani leaders
in Baku.
Local media in both Azerbaijan and Armenia however said there had been
further exchanges of fire on Tuesday night, although no casualties
were reported.
After arriving in Baku, Clinton immediately went into talks with
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at his palatial residence
overlooking the Caspian Sea.
The United States is a co-chair with Russia and France of the OSCE
Minsk Group, which was set up after the 1994 Karabakh ceasefire to
help bring about a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
But the conflict has remained unresolved for nearly two decades,
leaving Armenia suffering economically due to closed borders with
Azerbaijan and its ally Turkey, while Baku has grown richer on its
Caspian Sea oil deposits.
The United States has sought to balance its relationship with both
countries, pressed on one side by the large American Armenian community
and Washington's strategic interests in the Caspian basin on the other.
Clinton planned to visit an oil and gas trade exposition being held
in Baku, highlighting the $8 billion that US energy companies have
invested in Azerbaijan since independence following the break-up of
the Soviet Union.
Also expected to come up in her talks is Iran, which shares a border
with Azerbaijan.
Although both countries are predominantly Shiite Muslim, there are
political tensions between Azerbaijan's secular leadership and Iran's
Islamic regime.