An Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan is on the point of starvation

AFTER MORE than eight months of an ever-tightening blockade, the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh has turned catastrophic. Bread, a staple for many people, is rationed to one loaf per family per day. Critical medicines have run out; there is so little fuel that many patients cannot get to a doctor anyway. Desperate residents have taken to social media to barter, say, home-laid eggs for a kilo of sugar. One young mother posted a photo of baby formula, saying: “I will buy this at any price.”The siege represents the toughest tactic yet employed by the Azerbaijani government, as it seeks to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave of around 4,400 sq km (1,700 sq miles) at the heart of its decades-old conflict with Armenia. Karabakh has been internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory since the break-up of the Soviet Union, but ethnic Armenian forces won control of it in a war that ran from 1988 to 1994 (Armenians made up most of the population). In a second war, in 2020, Azerbaijan reversed many of those losses. The Azerbaijani government is now pushing for a deal that would complete its victory.