Consider the following pairs:
| Regions often mentioned in news | Reason for being in news | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | North Kivu and Ituri | War between Armenia and Azerbaijan |
| 2. | Nagorno-Karabakh | Insurgency in Mozambique |
| 3. | Kherson and Zaporizhzhia | Dispute between Israel and Lebanon |
How many of the above pairs are correctly matched?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (d) None
None of the pairs is correct; each region has been paired with the wrong conflict. North Kivu and Ituri are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nagorno-Karabakh is at the centre of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict, and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are regions of Ukraine occupied by Russia.
- ✗ 1. North Kivu and Ituri are provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where armed attacks and clashes between armed groups (including M23) and the army have displaced millions. The Armenia-Azerbaijan war is a different conflict.
- ✗ 2. Nagorno-Karabakh is the region at the heart of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict; the UN Security Council has discussed the Lachin Corridor linking it with Armenia. The Mozambique insurgency is unrelated.
- ✗ 3. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, with Donetsk and Luhansk, are Ukrainian regions that the UN General Assembly said are temporarily occupied by Russia. They have nothing to do with an Israel-Lebanon dispute.
Remember · North Kivu and Ituri: DR Congo. Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia-Azerbaijan. Kherson and Zaporizhzhia: Ukraine, occupied by Russia.
Sources
- OCHA: DR Congo (Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu) Scale-up Response Report, July-December 2023 ↗ · reference work “The humanitarian situation in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri remained precarious due to the intensification of armed attacks against civilians and the resumption of clashes between non-state armed groups and the army.”
- UN Security Council meeting coverage: Lachin Corridor, Nagorno-Karabakh (August 2023) ↗ “Movement through the Lachin Corridor — connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia and the rest of the world — must be reopened immediately, speakers told the Security Council today, as they called on both Armenia and Azerbaijan”
- UN News: General Assembly demands Russia reverse course on attempted illegal annexation (12 Oct 2022) ↗ “notes that the regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia are temporarily occupied by Russia as a result of aggression, violating Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2023, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·