Fighters of ethnic Armenian forces have reportedly started disarming following the ceasefire agreement reached with Azerbaijan over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh. But ethnic Armenians have been facing a food shortage and people in Armenia staged a protest against its government.

The Azerbaijan military on Tuesday launched what it called anti-terrorist operations in the breakaway ethnic Armenian region. The fighting ended the next day, after the ethnic Armenian forces agreed to a truce by accepting disarmament.

Reuters news agency reports that ethnic Armenian fighters began removing their weapons, including tanks. Azerbaijan's presidential adviser told Reuters that the government may offer an amnesty for ethnic Armenian fighters who give up their arms.
The region is home to about 120,000 ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan government officials and representatives from Nagorno-Karabakh are holding talks on their citizenship and other issues. But they have yet to reach an agreement.

Residents in the region remain in a dire situation. Russia's peacekeepers, who mediated the ceasefire, said they delivered relief supplies, including food and medicine. But a human rights monitoring group notes that many residents are suffering from shortages of food and electricity.

In the Armenian capital Yerevan, people took to the streets to stage a large-scale protest. They're demanding that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan step down to take responsibility.