Nearly the entire ethnic Armenian population has left\u00a0Nagorno-Karabakh, as the first United Nations mission arrived in the largely deserted mountainous region on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary general, said the United Nations team on the ground, the first UN mission to the region in 30 years, would \u201cidentify the humanitarian needs\u201d both for people remaining and \u201cthe people that are on the move\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many of the Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabkah said they felt the international mission\u2019s visit came too late, after\u00a0Azerbaijan\u00a0reclaimed the area in a lightning military operation last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sitting on a bench near the central Republic Square in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, Aren Harutyunyan, who left the region known by Armenians as Artsakh last week, blamed the \u201cinternational community\u201d for the exodus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat is there left for the UN to monitor?\u201d said Harutyunyan, 53, who arrived in Yerevan on Friday after a gruelling three-day journey from Stepanakert, the\u00a0Nagorno-Karabakh\u00a0capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo one is there any more, everyone is gone, it\u2019s a ghost town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Armenian authorities said that by Monday evening, more than 100,500 people, from a population of about 120,000, had fled to Armenia from Artsakh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In footage\u00a0aired\u00a0by the Al Jazeera TV channel over the weekend, an empty central square in Stepanakert can be seen, littered with rubbish, abandoned prams and children\u2019s scooters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere were the international monitors when we were being starved? It is too late now,\u201d Harutyunyan grumbled, referring to the months-long Azerbaijani blockade of the\u00a0Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hunan Tadevosyan, a spokesperson for Nagorno-Karabakh\u2019s emergency services, said on Sunday that the number of civilians left in Stepanakert could be \u201ccounted on one hand\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n