Solution nearer on Nagorny Karabakh issue.

• Position: Armenian-populated area of Azerbaijan conflict mediated by Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

The parties to the conflict over Nagorny Karabakh--a mostly Armenian-populated area of Azerbaijan--had, on the whole, been observing the 12 May 1994 cease-fire, the Co-Chairmen of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Conference, Heikki Talvitie and Valentin Lozinsky, reported (S/1996/259) to the Security Council on 9 April.

Following several rounds of talks held under the Co-Chairmen's mediation between the three conflicting parties--Armenia, Azerbaijan and Nagorny Karabakh--the "outlines of a settlement are emerging", the report said. Among the issues the parties agreed to were: settlement of all matters of dispute among themselves "only by peaceful means, first and foremost through negotiations"; carrying out of the "military-technical measures to consolidate the cease-fire and cessation of hostilities"; elaboration of Nagorny Karabakh's legal status, to be determined at the OSCE Minsk Conference, on the basis of a "mutually acceptable compromise"; humanitarian aid delivery to the territories that had been affected by the conflict; "safe, valuntary and balanced return" of displaced persons and refugees to their former places of permanent residence; evacuation of the territories occupied in the course of the armed conflict; establishment of local and regional security measures, including safe and unimpeded access from Nagorny Karabakh to Armenia; deployment of a multinational OSCE peace-keeping force to assist the implementation of the political agreement; and "removal of obstacles to and restoration of all normal links in the region".

However, three rounds of direct negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, held early in 1996, had shown that the "parties still did not display a readiness to conduct a constructive dialogue and search for compromise", it was reported.

The Co-Chairmen then prepared a "Framework for a package solution", since they believed that a package deal on the most important elements of the key problems would constitute a "breakthrough for rapid conclusion of the political agreement".

The Framework contained an outline, the Co-Chairmen went on, which "should in the immediate future be worked out and agreed in the negotiating process on the basis of the following commitments assumed by the parties": evacuation of all occupied territories; unimpeded access from Nagorny Karabakh to Armenia and vice versa; security for Nagorny Karabakh and its population; Azerbaijan's territorial integrity...