Students from Marowijne are tired of waiting

Two hundred youths who had signed up to enroll at the Technical High School (AMTO) in the Marowijne District are tired of waiting for a response. Some of the students indicated that they feel abandoned by Education and Culture Minister Marie Levens.

“I signed up after I had read the news about AMTO being established in the district. I have not heard anything else after that. I call the people who came up with the idea for this project every day but they keep telling me that they are waiting for the Ministry of Public Works to do its part so that they can start,” said a 20-year-old student. Jurman Kitty, one of the people who came up with the idea for this project, explained that the students from Marowijne have to travel all the way to either the Commewijne District or the Paramaribo District after they graduate from the Mulo or the LBO. Kitty explained that it costs too much to travel to other districts every day to attend classes. “Not everybody can stay with relatives who live in those districts,” said Kitty who added that “a high school must be established in the Marowijne District this school year or else it will never be established. Students who attend school in Commewijne face many obstacles. The school bus drivers often go on strike.”

AZERBAIJAN/ARMENIA Azeri President Ilham Aliyev said yesterday his troops would “go to the end” should negotiations fail to result in an agreement by ethnic Armenian forces to withdraw from Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions.

Aliyev, speaking during a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Azeri capital Baku, also said Armenia had “no basis” to request Russian military assistance in the conflict.

Further shelling was reported by Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces in and around Nagorno-Karabakh yesterday. The death toll in the region’s worst fighting in more than 25 years has already surpassed 1,000 and is possibly much higher.

Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but is populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians.

The conflict has brought into sharp focus the increased influence of Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, in a former Soviet region considered by Russia to be within its sphere of influence. Russia also has a security alliance with Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has asked Russia to outline the extent of the support it could expect from Moscow.

In response, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday it would provide “all assistance required” should the conflict spill onto “the territory of Armenia” - land that is outside the current conflict zone. Aliyev, quoted by state news agency Azertag, said he wanted to resolve the conflict through negotiations that would result in the withdrawal of ethnic Armenian forces. “Otherwise,” he said, “we will continue by any means to restore our territorial integrity and ... we will go to the end.” Azerbaijan’s advances on the battlefield since fighting began on Sept. 27 have reduced its incentive to strike a lasting peace deal and complicated international efforts to broker a truce. Three ceasefires have failed to hold.

The ethnic Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh military said that missiles been targeted at the town of Martuni, the village of Karin Tak and the city of Shushi, just 15 kilometres (9 miles) from the enclave’s largest city, Stepanakert.

Armenia’s

defence

ministry said a second militant from Syria had been captured on the battlefield. Azerbaijan has previously denied the presence of foreign fighters.

Azerbaijan’s defence ministry said its army units in Tovuz, Gadabay and Gubadli had come under shelling overnight. Combat on Sunday was concentrated in Aghdere, Aghdam, Gubadli and Khojavend - the Azeri name for Martuni. Nagorno-Karabakh’s army says 1,166 of its soldiers have been killed since Sept. 27 and the office of NagornoKarabakh’s human rights ombudsman said the civilian death toll was 45.

Azerbaijan, which does not disclose its military casualties, says 91 civilians have been killed. Russia has estimated as many as 5,000 deaths on both sides. (Reuters)