The Deciport Daily Quick-Look: 29 September 2020
A man holds an ammunition part following what locals say was a recent shelling by Azeri forces, in the town of Martuni in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, September 28, 2020. Foreign Ministry of Armenia/Hondout via REUTERS
Fear of all-out war and possible intervention by Russia and Turkey.
Security // BLUF: Fighting between Azerbaijan and its ethnic Armenian mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh has escalated after a second day of heavy clashes, with at least 29 people killed.
A senior analyst for the South Caucasus region at Crisis Group commented that they had not seen fighting of this magnitude since the ceasefire to the full-scale war between the groups in the region during the 1990s.
While Turkey backs Azerbaijan, Russia has a defence alliance with Armenia, which provides support to the ethnic Armenian enclave.
Russia has called for a ceasefire, while Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan demanded that Armenia immediately quit the Azeri land he said it was occupying.
(See Point 2 Below for Further Information)
The Daily Quick-Look for 29 September 2020
The Deciport Daily Quick-Look is your at-a-glance look at several key events and situations around the world over the last 24 hours. Each headline contains the link to its source report.
BLUF = Bottom Line Up Front.
FYSA = For Your Situational Awareness.
1. CANADA - Security: Canada's Quebec expected to announce new restrictions as coronavirus cases rise
FYSA: Quebec, the Canadian province hardest hit by the novel coronavirus, reported another sharp increase in daily infections on Monday, and media reports said Premier Francois Legault would announce new restrictions for Montreal and capital Quebec City. Quebec added 750 new coronavirus cases on Monday, despite existing restrictions on mask wearing and social gatherings put in place by Canada’s second-most populous province to contain the spread of infections. Health Minister Christian Dube told a French-language talk show on Sunday night the two cities were close to being listed as red zones, referring to the province’s traffic light system for designating transmission, with red being the hardest-hit. A spokeswoman for Quebec’s premier declined comment, but said Legault would address the issue “with all the details” during a news conference at 5:30 pm ET. Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, on Monday reported a new daily high of 700 cases, with a bit more than a day’s worth of samples still pending at labs, latest data showed. The number of patients in hospital is also rising steadily, reaching 128, the data showed. “We know that this wave will be more complicated, more complex, it will be worse than the first wave we faced earlier this year,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters in Toronto. (Reuters. See link in heading for further reading)
2. AZERBAIJAN- Security: Fiercest clashes since 1990s rage in Azerbaijan's ethnic Armenian enclave
FYSA: Fighting escalated sharply on Monday between Azerbaijan and its ethnic Armenian mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, and at least 29 people were killed in a second day of heavy clashes. The two sides pounded each other with rockets and artillery in the fiercest explosion of the decades-old conflict in more than a quarter of a century. Any move to all-out war could drag in major regional powers Russia and Turkey. Moscow has a defence alliance with Armenia, which provides vital support to the enclave and is its lifeline to the outside world, while Ankara backs its own ethnic Turkic kin in Azerbaijan. “We haven’t seen anything like this since the ceasefire to the war in the 1990s. The fighting is taking place along all sections of the front line,” said Olesya Vartanyan, senior analyst for the South Caucasus region at Crisis Group. Nagorno-Karabakh said 27 of its soldiers had been killed in fighting with Azeri forces on Monday, after saying that 31 of its servicemen had been killed on Sunday and around 200 wounded when Azerbaijan attacked. Nagorno-Karabakh also said it had recovered some territory lost on Sunday. The general prosecutor’s office in Azerbaijan said two Azeri civilians had been killed on Monday, after five were killed on Sunday, and 30 had been wounded. There was no official information about any Azeri military casualties. (Reuters. See link in heading for further reading)
3. INDONESIA - Security, Political: Papuan protestors forcibly dispersed by police
FYSA: Indonesian police have forcibly dispersed hundreds of West Papuan university students holding a demonstration in Jayapura. The students were peacefully protesting against the extension of special autonomy status in the Indonesian-ruled propvinces of Papua. The demonstration at the Cenderawasih University was broken up by dozens of armed police, as shots were heard being fired. It's the latest in a series of demonstrations against special autonomy around cities in Papua and elsewhere in Indonesia. Reports from region last week said hundreds of demonstrators were arrested at different locations across Nabire regency. A spokesperson for Indonesia's government said that in order to curb the spread of Covid-19 strict health protocols were being applied across the country. This included restrictions on gatherings to a maximum of 50 people. (RNZ. See link in heading for further reading)
4. AUSTRALIA - Political, Security (Health): Victoria hotel quarantine failures 'responsible' for Covid second wave and 768 deaths, inquiry told
FYSA: The failures in Victoria’s “hastily assembled” hotel quarantine are “responsible” for the state’s 768 deaths and 18,418 cases since the end of May, the inquiry heard on Monday. After 25 hearings and 63 witnesses over the course of the past two months, the inquiry heard closing submissions from the counsel assisting the inquiry, with the state’s second wave squarely blamed on the hotel quarantine program. “One only needs to pause and to reflect on those figures to appreciate the full scope of devastation and despair occasioned as a result of the outbreak,” counsel assisting Ben Ihle said. “It was a program which failed to meet its primary objective to keep us safe from the virus.” The second wave can be traced back to Covid-19 outbreaks transmitted from returned travellers to staff, including security guards, at two quarantine hotels – the Stamford Plaza and the Rydges on Swanston. The inquiry heard the outbreak likely originated at the Rydges via environmental transmission due to poor infection-control practices at the hotel. Throughout the course of the inquiry, none of the witnesses, including the premier, Daniel Andrews, said they made the decision to use private security guards for guarding returned travellers. Rachel Ellyard, counsel assisting, said that throughout the course of several meetings on 27 March, senior public servants in Victoria, including the emergency management commissioner, Andrew Crisp, and the state’s then-police commissioner, Graham Ashton, made a “creeping assumption” that private security would be used to guard hotels, not police. (The Guardian. See link in heading for further reading)
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