Fighting breaks out between Armenia and Azerbaijan moments before peace talks

U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to hold peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in a couple of hours today.

Fragments of an artillery shell at the fighting sight of ethnic Armenian soldiers. October, 20, 200. Reuters

But despite the planned talks, both forces clashed early this morning over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. It’s not clear at the moment if anyone has died as a result of the fighting.

Both countries have been at odds with each other for over a month. Russian authorities monitoring the fighting closely say approximately 5,000 people have been killed as a result of the mini-war.

Pompeo’s latest efforts to broker a ceasefire comes after two Russian-brokered ceasefires collapsed in just a matter of days after the agreement.

Fighting over the ethnic Armenian controlled region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been going on since the early 90’s, and re-erupted on September 27th.

Both countries claim to be on the right side of history. Azerbaijan says its actions are to take back the region which it rightfully owns and is recognized by the UN as Azerbaijani land.

Armenia on the other hand says it's simply defending its people from an Azerbaijani takeover.

“I very much hope that our American partners will act in unison with us and will help the settlement,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.

Despite the latest developments, Pompeo’s meeting is scheduled to take place as originally planned. The U.S diplomat will sit-down, separately, with both countries’ foreign ministers, in Russia. But prospects of actually reaching a deal this time are low. Azerbaijan’s president says his country will only agree to drop arms if it's handed back Nagorno-Karabakh.

By: Niza Nondo