UN Special Envoy Espen Barth Eide has informed the two community leaders on the island that both the IMF and the World Bank are calling for a single economy for Cyprus in the event of a solution. According to reports in Phileleftheros on Monday, the comments were made during a recent seminar that took place…
Positive feedback from UN Security Council on Cyprus talks
The resolution on the renewal of UN Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) mandate contains minor changes compared with last June’s resolution, diplomatic sources have todl the Cyprus News Agency, it said on Sunday. The same sources said the Cypriot mission to the UN would exert efforts to improve the paragraphs regarding missing persons, CNA…
[Video] SG Special Adviser Espen Barth Eide and SRSG Lisa Buttenheim on Cyprus
Espen Barth Eide (SG Special Adviser) and Lisa Buttenheim (SRSG) on Cyprus – Security Council Media Stakeout 15 Jan 2016 – Informal comments to the media by Mr. Espen Barth Eide, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Cyprus and Lisa Buttenheim, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).…
Give-and-take time for negotiations
By Esra Aygin Progress achieved in the negotiations to reunify Cyprus under a federal umbrella means the sides are just a stone’s throw away from the final give-and-take stage, according to a senior Turkish Cypriot source. The final give-and-take will involve painful political compromises across all the topics of the Cyprus problem, but mainly governance,…
Ban Ki-moon urges UNFICYP mandate renewal at ‘critical juncture
By Staff Reporter IN his latest report on the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), UN Secretary General Ban Ki–moon encouraged the two leaders to maintain the momentum of the Cyprus talks and to continue their efforts to bring the process to a successful conclusion. In his report, released to members of the UN…
Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis is not resigning his post
Greek Cypriot negotiator at the UN-led peace talks, Andreas Mavroyiannis, has clarified, with statements to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), that he is not resigning his post. Invited to comment on press reports that he will soon be submitting his resignation to the President of the Republic Nicos Anastasiades, he said “there is no such…
Vision for security
President Nicos Anastasiades has a vision for a post-settlement Cyprus that takes into account each community’s fears but does away with the traditional guarantor structure. As a result of the 1974 invasion, Greek Cypriots tend to see guarantor powers (Turkey, Greece and the UK) as a threat, while because of the coup that preceded it,…
UN Secretary General: A solution to decades of division is within reach
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said on Wednesday that he is encouraged by the progress in the negotiations on the Cyprus problem, adding that a solution is within reach. Ban was speaking during his end of the year press conference at the UN Headquarters. “I am encouraged by progress in the negotiations on Cyprus.…
The UN Green Line: 41 years of ‘peace’ that stabilizes or normalises an ‘abnormal’ situation?*
By Titina Loizidou *This speech was presented by Titina Loizidou at a debate co-organised by the Cypriot Puzzle, under the auspices of the Cyprus Circle. The motion of the debate was: “Is the UN playing a positive role towards the solution of the Cyprus Problem?” First of all I would like to thank the members…
Spring time for peace
March is the month the UN-brokered Cyprus peace talks should come under assessment because if summer comes and a proposed reunification plan is not on the table then the game is over. But reaching a Cyprus solution by March is “overly optimistic”, an insider told The Cyprus Weekly yesterday. “There are lots of rumours, lots…