Nestle in Azerbaijan CD blunder

By Elettra Neysmith
West Asia editor, BBC News

Nestle issued a formal apology and pledged to seize the offending CDs

The Swiss-based multinational food company, Nestle, has apologised to Azerbaijan after a gift attached to a breakfast cereal backfired.

The CD-ROM featured information about countries around the world but the data on Azerbaijan caused outrage there.

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

Nestle has withdrawn the cereal and promised to seize the offending CDs.

Tense and volatile

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.

Nestle inadvertently stumbled into a minefield.

The Azeri government vowed to take action, and there has been widespread talk of a public boycott.

Nestle has now issued a formal apology but some Azeris are still not happy.

They accuse Nestle of playing Armenia's hand, and are demanding more than just an apology to chew on.