Trucks carrying food and medicines entered Nagorno-Karabakh on Monday following a deal by Armenia and Azerbaijan to reopen two roads leading to the Armenian enclave.

Armenian separatists and the government in Baku agreed to use the road in the Lachin corridor, the sole road linking the mountainous region with Armenia, and the Aghdam road which connects Nagorno-Karabakh with the rest of Azerbaijan.

The "Simultaneous passage of the Red Cross cars was ensured" through the Lachin corridor and the Aghdam road, Hikmet Hajiyev, foreign policy advisor to Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev said on social media.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it is bringing shipments of wheat flour and essential medical items to people in need via the Lachin Corridor and the Aghdam road.

Nagorno-Karabakh residents "urgently need sustained relief through regular humanitarian shipments. This consensus has allowed our teams to resume this lifesaving work," Ariane Bauer, ICRC's regional director for Europe and Central Asia, said.

Last year, Baku blocked the sole road linking the mountainous region with Armenia, the Lachin corridor policed by Russian peacekeepers.

Armenia then accused Azerbaijan of fueling a humanitarian crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Baku denied the accusation, saying that the separatist authorities had simply refused its proposal to simultaneously reopen both the Lachin corridor and the Aghdam road which connects Nagorno-Karabakh with the rest of Azerbaijan.

The months-long crisis as well as Baku's deployment of troops near Nagorno-Karabakh and along the border with Armenia have sparked fears of a fresh all-out conflict between the arch-foes who have fought two wars for control of the region.

Six weeks of fighting ended in autumn 2020 with a Russian-brokered truce that saw Armenia cede swathes of territory it had controlled since the 1990s.

The two sides have been unable to reach a lasting peace settlement despite mediation efforts by the European Union, United States and Russia.

WITH AFP