EU foreign ministers on Monday approved the creation of an EU civilian mission in Armenia tasked with contributing to a peaceful solution to the conflict with neighbouring Azerbaijan.
The EUMA mission will, among other things, patrol the border areas and report to the EU on the situation there. The aim is to stabilise these areas and establish a “climate of confidence”, the EU Council said.
The mission, which should start at the end of February with about a hundred people, for a two-year mandate, comes in response to a request from Armenia.
Armenia and Azerbaijan clashed in the early 1990s over control of Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian-populated enclave in Azerbaijan.
The conflict left 30,000 dead and ended in an Armenian victory. Baku took its revenge in a second war in the autumn of 2020, which claimed 6,500 lives, by retaking large parts of the territory.
Clashes resumed last September.
