The Cypriot government has welcomed a Security Council
resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Peace-Keeping Force in
Cyprus (UNFICYP) for another six months.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on
Friday to extend UNFICYP's mandate until Dec. 15, 2007, meanwhile
called on the two communities in Cyprus to immediately revive
negotiations.
In response, Cypriot government spokesman Vassilis Palmas was
quoted by local Sunday Mail as saying that "the government
of the Republic of Cyprus expresses its satisfaction with the
adoption of the resolution, which reiterates the firm adherence of
the United Nations to the principles and decisions of the July 8
Agreement."
On July 8, 2006, Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos and
Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat reached an agreement
providing for the concurrent establishment of working groups to
address certain areas of the Cyprus problem and the introduction of
technical committees to deal with the day-to-day problems that
affect the people.
But on-and-off negotiations have yielded no fruits so far and
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides blame each other for the
stagnation.
The UN Security Council urged "all parties to immediately engage
constructively with the United Nations efforts and demonstrate
measurable progress in order to allow fully fledged negotiations to
begin, and to cease mutual recriminations."
The council reaffirmed that the status quo is unacceptable, that
time is not on the side of a settlement, and that negotiations on a
final political solution to the Cyprus problem have been at an
impasse for too long.
UNFICYP was established in 1964 to prevent a recurrence of
fighting between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Less than
1,000 personnel are currently stationed in Cyprus.
(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2007)
