Bases plan new Akamas exercise next month

UNDAUNTED by growing local opposition, the British army is planning to carry out fresh military exercises in the Akamas early next month.

The Green party, veterans of many anti British exercise protests, announced yesterday that they had “confirmed information” the British bases were to use the Akamas for war games between February 9 and 11.

“That is the case, there’s nothing secret about it,” bases spokesman Rob Need told the Cyprus Mail yesterday. “We have already informed the government of our intention to use the area for exercises during this period.”

Exercises late last month were scaled down in the face of the threat of direct action from environmentalists – who claim the war games damage the pristine peninsula’s delicate ecology.

A reduced number of soldiers, just 30, were flown in and out of the area by helicopter to exercise under cover of darkness.

Need said the February exercises would be “small” – involving about 30 to 40 soldiers – and would not involve live firing.

The Green party made plain its resolve to continue actively opposing the exercises.

The bases spokesman said dealing with possible protests was the responsibility of Cyprus police.

The bases and the government are involved in negotiations to find an alternative, less environmentally sensitive, site for the exercises.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.