UN Chief To Visit Caucasus Region

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia on a tour of the Caucasus region from April 23-25.

Ban's stay in Tbilisi on April 23-24 comes at the invitation of Georgian Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili and is his first official visit there.

He plans to meet with representatives of Georgia's legislature and executive agencies and take part in other events.

The UN chief will move on to Armenia on April 25 and will also make a stop in Azerbaijan, UN officials said.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh -- a mainly ethnic Armenian region inside Azerbaijan.

A cease-fire halted four days of fierce fighting between Karabakh separatists and Azerbaijani forces on April 5, but sporadic shooting still breaks out. The breakaway region said one of its soldiers was killed by gunfire from Azerbaijan on April 19.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax