NESTLE APOLOGISES TO AZERBAIJAN

Newsroom America
May 3 2008
New Zealand

Food giant Nestle faces a boycott in Azerbaijan after information about
countries around the world on a CD-ROM given away with a breakfast
cereal caused outrage there.

The CD-ROM said that Azerbaijan had started a war against neighbouring
Armenia and that the hotly disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh
belonged to Armenia.

The BBC reports that the Swiss-based multinational food company
has issued a formal apology to Azerbaijan, withdrawn the cereal and
promised to seize the offending CDs.

Conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in the early 1990s over
Nagorno-Karabakh killed an estimated 30,000 people. Hundreds of
thousands of refugees were created on both sides.

And despite a peace deal in 1994, the situation remains tense and
volatile.

The Azeri government vowed to take action, and there has been
widespread talk of a public boycott, despite Nestle’s apology.