PARIS: France Sunday called for Azerbaijan and Armenian separatists fighting over the Nagorny Karabakh region to "immediately cease hostilities and resume dialogue".

France, along with Russia and the United States, has mediated peace efforts over the breakaway region as the "Minsk Group", but the last big push for a peace deal collapsed in 2010.

France, "with its Russian and American partners, reiterates its commitment to reach a negotiated and durable settlement to the conflict" with "respect for international law," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding it was "deeply concerned about the large-scale confrontations."