GENEVA: Azerbaijan said Wednesday it was prepared to allow the Red Cross to bring humanitarian aid into the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh on a “regular basis,” accusing Armenian separatists of blocking access.
Tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh have flared in recent months, as Armenia accuses Azerbaijan of obstructing traffic on the Lachin corridor — the sole road linking Armenia to the Armenian-populated breakaway region.
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stressed his government’s “commitment and our readiness to provide access.”
Speaking to reporters with the United Nations correspondent’s association in Geneva, he said he had met with the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Swiss city and had “reconfirmed our commitment to cooperation.”
“ICRC is ready. The government of Azerbaijan is ready” for aid to be brought in, he said.
“It can be conducted on a regular basis,” he said, adding that “the only missing point at the moment... is still the blocking (by) the local Armenians.”
His comments came after Russian humanitarian aid arrived Tuesday in Nagorno-Karabakh via territory controlled by Azerbaijan, according to separatist authorities in the Armenian-populated area.
The Lachin corridor is policed by Russian peacekeepers as part of a cease-fire agreement Moscow brokered between the ex-Soviet Caucasus nations in 2020.
Baku has rejected Armenia’s claim, saying Nagorno-Karabakh could receive supplies via Azerbaijani-controlled territory.
On September 1, Azerbaijan agreed to simultaneously reopen, for humanitarian supplies, both the Lachin corridor and the Aghdam road linking Nagorno-Karabakh with the rest of Azerbaijan.
Bayramov said Wednesday that the “ICRC is ready to organize everything,” adding the organization had two convoys ready to go “in a matter of hours.”
He said the convoys could move “in parallel” using the Aghdam and Lachin routes simultaneously.
“We are ready at any scale, ... (within) respect to norms and procedures of Azerbaijani legislation,” he said.
An ICRC spokeswoman confirmed to AFP Wednesday that the organization “stands ready to deliver large shipments of desperately needed humanitarian assistance by any route possible.”
“We are extremely concerned for the tens of thousands of people who urgently need food, medicine and other essential items,” she said.
“We hope a humanitarian consensus is reached very soon so that our work can resume and we can get aid to those who need it.”
Azerbaijan ready to allow ‘regular’ aid access to Nagorno-Karabakh
https://arab.news/gsx27
Azerbaijan ready to allow ‘regular’ aid access to Nagorno-Karabakh
- Tensions over Nagorno-Karabakh have flared in recent months
- Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stressed his government’s “commitment and our readiness to provide access”
WHO appeals for $1 bn for world’s worst health crises in 2026
- The UN health agency estimated 239 million people would need urgent humanitarian assistance this year and the money would keep essential health services going
GENEVA: The World Health Organization on Tuesday appealed for $1 billion to tackle health crises this year across the world’s 36 most severe emergencies, including in Gaza, Sudan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN health agency estimated 239 million people would need urgent humanitarian assistance this year and the money would keep essential health services going.
WHO health emergencies chief Chikwe Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva: “A quarter of a billion people are living through humanitarian crises that strip away the most basic protections: safety, shelter and access to health care.
“In these settings, health needs are surging, whether due to injuries, disease outbreaks, malnutrition or untreated chronic diseases,” he warned.
“Yet access to care is shrinking.”
The agency’s emergency request was significantly lower than in recent years, given the global funding crunch for aid operations.
Washington, traditionally the UN health agency’s biggest donor, has slashed foreign aid spending under President Donald Trump, who on his first day back in office in January 2025 handed the WHO his country’s one-year withdrawal notice.
Last year, WHO had appealed for $1.5 billion but Ihekweazu said that only $900 million was ultimately made available.
Unfortunately, he said, the agency had been “recognizing ... that the appetite for resource mobilization is much smaller than it was in previous years.”
“That’s one of the reasons that we’ve calibrated our ask a little bit more toward what is available realistically, understanding the situation around the world, the constraints that many countries have,” he said.
The WHO said in 2026 it was “hyper-prioritising the highest-impact services and scaling back lower?impact activities to maximize lives saved.”
Last year, global funding cuts forced 6,700 health facilities across 22 humanitarian settings to either close or reduce services, “cutting 53 million people off from health care.” Ihekweazu said.
“Families living on the edge face impossible decisions, such as whether to buy food or medicine,” he added, stressing that “people should never have to make these choices.”
“This is why today we are appealing to the better sense of countries, and of people, and asking them to invest in a healthier, safer world.”
