By Elias Hazou
ACTING President Spyros Kyprianou yesterday hailed the resolution on Cyprus passed by the Non-Aligned Movement’s (NAM) summit at Durban in South Africa, saying it “opened the way” for discussion of latest developments on the Cyprus Problem at the UN’s Security Council.
The NAM resolution passed late on Thursday “reaffirmed all previous positions and declarations of the Non-Aligned Movement on the question of Cyprus,” and “expressed deep concern and disappointment over the fact that no progress has been achieved in the search for a just and viable solution due to Turkish intransigence.”
It also called for the “effective implementation of all UN resolutions… and to that end, for the Security Council to take resolute action… including the holding of an international conference and (steps towards) the demilitarisation of Cyprus.”
Speaking at a press conference in Nicosia yesterday, Kyprianou also described as “positive” the outcome of Thursday’s meeting between President Glafcos Clerides and UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan, after which the UN chief promised a new UN initiative on Cyprus. Annan also confirmed that the Security Council would not waiver from its stance of insisting that Cyprus peace talks be held on a bi-communal basis.
Addressing the NAM conference, Clerides had rejected Dentkash’s recent proposals for two separate states within a Cyprus confederation as “totally unacceptable.”
Commenting on reports of a new American initiative on Cyprus, Kyprianou said that as yet there was no time framework for such an initiative, but indicated that any such effort should be based on international law and UN Security Council resolutions. Provided these conditions were met, he said he would welcome any US initiative, since Washington “was in the best position to promote a just solution to the Cyprus problem.”
On the question of Britain’s “lukewarm” reaction to Turkish Denktash’s latest proposals for a loose confederation, Kyprianou said that he had later received “assurances” from the British government that London’s position was unaltered.
According to Kyprianou, the UN has not linked Denktash’s proposals to the controversial deployment of the Russian-made S-300 missiles by Cyprus, adding that both issues would be discussed on Monday by the National Council.
