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UN mediator reports on Cyprus talks
New York, Apr 03: The United Nations mediator in the Cyprus sovereignty dispute, Alvaro De Soto, reported to the UN Security Council yesterday on marathon negotiations this week in Switzerland, where the UN failed to get Cypriot leaders to sign final documents on reunification.
New York, Apr 03: The United Nations mediator in the Cyprus sovereignty dispute, Alvaro De Soto, reported to the UN Security Council yesterday on marathon negotiations this week in Switzerland, where the UN failed to get Cypriot leaders to sign final documents on reunification.
De Soto described in details the talks in the Swiss mountain town of Buergenstock presided over by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot parties and Greek and Turkish leaders attended the talks.
But the Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators deadlocked and did not sign the final documents on Wednesday, the final deadline for reaching an agreement.
Under a previous agreement reached in New York in February in case of failure in the talks, Annan will use his authority to present the documents directly to the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in referenda, which are scheduled for April 24.
Failure to sign the final documents has jeopardized the possibility that both Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides would enter the European Union on May 1 as a reunified country. The referenda would allow Cypriots on both sides to decide for themselves their future.
''For the people of Cyprus, the next month is the most critical in the last 30 years,'' De Soto told the council.
''They have the democratic right to decide whether to reunite their country on the basis that has been suggested,'' he said. ''We, as the UN, are proud to have been able to work with their leaders to give them this opportunity.''
But the Greek and Turkish Cypriot negotiators deadlocked and did not sign the final documents on Wednesday, the final deadline for reaching an agreement.
Under a previous agreement reached in New York in February in case of failure in the talks, Annan will use his authority to present the documents directly to the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in referenda, which are scheduled for April 24.
Failure to sign the final documents has jeopardized the possibility that both Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides would enter the European Union on May 1 as a reunified country. The referenda would allow Cypriots on both sides to decide for themselves their future.
''For the people of Cyprus, the next month is the most critical in the last 30 years,'' De Soto told the council.
''They have the democratic right to decide whether to reunite their country on the basis that has been suggested,'' he said. ''We, as the UN, are proud to have been able to work with their leaders to give them this opportunity.''
Bureau Report