Security Council ready to consider new peace-keeping effort.

The Security Council on 26 April - in reiterating full support for the efforts of the Co-Chairmen of the Minsk Conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) - confirmed its readiness to provide "continuing political support, inter alia, through an appropriate resolution regarding the possible deployment of a multinational OSCE peace-keeping force" following the parties' agreement for cessation of the armed conflict around Nagorny Karabakh.

In a statement by its President Karel Kovanda of the Czech Republic, the Council also expressed concern at "recent violent incidents" on the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and along the line of contact.

It urged the parties to take "all necessary measures to prevent such incidents in future", and refrain from "any actions that may undermine the peace process". The urgency of the implementation of confidence-building measures, particularly in the humanitarian field; was also stressed.

Talks continue

The cease-fire in Nagorny Karabakh - a mostly Armenian-populated area in Azerbaijan - was still in effect, thanks to the restraint shown by the parties to the conflict for more than 13 months, it was reported in early July.

Heikki Taivitie and Valentin Lozinsky, Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Conference, said (S/1995/558) that two rounds of talks aimed at a political agreement on the cessation of the armed conflict had taken place in Moscow in May and in Helsinki in June. The parties had discussed issues of key importance to the comprehensive setlement of the conflict "in a businesslike atmosphere", they said.

The Co-chairmen appealed to them to continue talks "without preconditions and linkages with other questions", demonstrate "perseverance in overcoming difficulties", and ensure "stability and irreversibility" of negotiations, bearing in mind the crucial importance of the political agreement for the world community's assistance in the conflict resolution, particularly, for the deployment of the multinational OCSE peace-keeping operation.

In connection with the first anniversary of the 12 May 1994 cease-fire, Armenia had released and repatriated all prisoners and detainees to Baku, the Co-Chairmen reported, and Azerbaijan responded with a reciprocal move. The Minsk Group States had called on the parties to declare an amnesty for those who participated in the armed conflict.

"Though the guns of the conflicting parties are now silent, more than 1 million refugees and displaced persons continue to suffer", they had reported (S/1995/321) on 20 April.

Chechnya region

Peter Hansen, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, on 28 April expressed deep concern over the fate of Frederick Cuny and his party, who had disappeared in Chechnya - an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation - while on a humanitarian mission for the Soros Foundation. He appealed to all concerned to do their utmost to locate the missing persons and ensure their safe return.

Respect for the safety and security of humanitarian relief workers was of "cardinal importance" - it must be upheld "under any circumstances", Mr. Hansen declared. "Failure to do so can only result in greater suffering for those affected by this conflict, and cannot serve in the interests of those who threaten the lives and well-being of humanitarian aid workers in the field", he stressed.

On 6 April, an urgent alert regarding the situation of internally displaced persons in Chechnya had been issued by the Department of Humanitarian Affairs, stressing that lack of resources posed a "threat to the integrated approach of United Nations humanitarian programmes".

Citing "disappointing response" to earlier appeals - only $7.9 million of the $25 million sought had been received by the end of March - the Department urged donor countries to take immediate action to support the assistance programmes.

UN agencies and other humanitarian organizations operating in Daghestan - another North Caucasus autonomous republic of the Russian Federation - had reported a sharp increase in the flow of internally displaced persons fleeing Chechnya. With some 3,000 refugees crossing the border daily, an additional 30,000 to 50,000 Chechens were reportedly moving towards the Daghestani border.

Last nuclear device

The last nuclear explosive device at the former Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakstan - emplaced by military departments of the former Soviet Union, prior to the site closure in August 1991 - would be destroyed, Kazakstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev announced on 26 May.

A total of 459 nuclear explosions had been conducted in the area for almost 45 years - 113 of them in the atmosphere - and the health of half a million Kazaks exposed to atomic radiation had thus been "sacrificed to the insane nuclear arms race", he stated, in an address to his nation.

The last device would be destroyed at the end of May or the first 10 days of June, and the chance of "any radioactivity or ionizing radiation escaping has been totally excluded", President Nazarbaev said. Also, he added, since the "last lethal warheads" had been removed from the country's territory at the end of April, Kazaks "need not fear the nudear genie which has always threatened to break free".