Reuters: Negotiations To End Post-Election Unrest Unlikely

Reuters reports that hopes to end the violent standoff between the authorities and supporters of former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian, look unlikely to come to fruition. The special envoy for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said such a possibility is “not possible” for the moment.

Neither side has shown much willingness to back down and analysts and diplomats said Armenia was heading for a period of uncertainty.

A U.S. State Department spokesman said Washington was sending Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matt Bryza to help “facilitate discussions” between the government and opposition. But he stressed Bryza would not carry out “formal mediation.”

“This is a situation where we need to see both the parties work with one another, engage in dialogue, not violence,” the spokesman said.

[…]

The emergency laws ban public meetings and restrict media reporting. Armoured personnel carriers were still guarding the main square on Monday, but traffic has returned to the streets and shops were open.

“It was very bad on Saturday,” Sahak, a 25-year-old unemployed man, said as he watched workers hammer together a broken metal shelf in a looted supermarket.

“But we now really hope that is all over.”

Meanwhile, despite claims from Ter-Petrossian that the army would not get involved, Reuters also reports that the Chief of Military General Staff has warned the opposition not to hold demonstrations during the period of the state of emergency.

“Any attempt to organise mass actions will immediately be confronted by very strong counteractions from Armenia’s military forces,” General Seyran Ohanyan, the chief of the Armenian military staff, said in a statement.

[…]

Soldiers poured into Yereven and sealed off its main squares. Burnt out cars littered the streets and shopkeepers swept away broken glass after looting.

“It’s a nightmare. Look at what they’ve done to our city,” 25-year-old student Emma Karapetyan said. “I hate both opposition leaders and our authorities.”