U.N. SECRETARY-general Kofi Annan has recommended a further six-month renewal of the mandate of the UN’s peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp).
In his latest report on the UN operation in Cyprus, Annan said the presence of the force remained indispensable to maintain the cease-fire between the two sides.
Annan said the continual upgrading of arms on both sides of the line was a cause for concern, as was the proposed deployment by the government of the Russian S-300 missiles.
He also said the UN had protested several military incursions into the buffer zone by both sides in the past six months. Unficyp also protested air violations by both sides.
The report said that on October 25, four Greek fighters participating in the joint Cyprus-Greece Nikiforos-Toxotis exercises flew over the buffer zone in the area of occupied Louroudjina. There had also been a number of helicopter overflights of the buffer zone during the past six months, Annan’s report added.
Annan also said that on June 13, Turkish Air Force F-16s crossed both cease- fire lines and entered the south of the island by approximately 300 metres.
But the placing side by side of Greek and Turkish air violations yesterday drew an angry response from Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou.
“We are trying to organise our defence against a heavily over-armed Turkey with a population of 100 million,” Omirou said. “So with all due respect to the role of the UN they should direct their attention elsewhere. We have faith in the UN, but many times the equating of victim and aggressor, between the legal Republic of Cyprus and the occupation regime, comes as a painful surprise.”
Annan’s report also criticises the National Guard over a large new military construction, “despite strong protests by Unficyp”.
“This construction involves anti-tank ditches and other defensive fortifications on the cease-fire line east and south east of Nicosia, as well as a network of bunkers with connecting trenches east of the Old City of Nicosia, and constitutes a significant change in the status quo,” the report said, adding that in some instances the National Guard personnel restricted Unficyp movements at checkpoints at the edge of the buffer zone.
There was also an increase in crossings of the Maritime Security Line, the seaward extension of the buffer zone on the island’s east coast.
“Incidents have occurred when Greek Cypriot fishing or tourist boats deliberately cross the maritime security line,” the report said.
Annan concludes that the presence of Unficyp on the island remains indispensable, and recommends the six-monthly mandate be renewed until June 30 1999.
The UN force in Cyprus numbers 1,230 military personnel and 33 civilian police from nine countries. The cost of maintaining the force during the new mandate period will be $22.6 million.
