The “four-day war”, fought between the Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces from 1-5 April 2016, has forced the international community to take a fresh look at the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Although the fighting ended with a truce reached under Russia’s auspices, it showed the threat for further escalation and violence to be very real, raising the stakes for both sides in the conflict, and for the international community. In this Discussion Paper, Amanda Paul and Dennis Sammut discuss the latest developments in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and argue that, with prospects of a resolution once more on the horizon, it is important that the momentum of any breakthrough is quickly consolidated. Peacekeeping and confidence building are an essential part of this process and the international community, most particularly the EU, must move fast to ensure that such measures are in place as soon as they are needed.
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