Unficyp cost $47 million last year

THE UN spent over $47 million financing its peacekeeping force in Cyprus during the last financial year.

In its report to Secretary-general Kofi Annan, published yesterday, the UN General Assembly states that maintaining the Unficyp force in Cyprus between July 1997 and June 1998 cost a total of $47,822,300.

This expenditure was $178,500 lower than budgeted.

The saving resulted from a reduction in the number of Unficyp soldiers stationed on the island and a freeze on staff recruitment as part of a downsizing effort.

During this period, the UN had 1,225 soldiers, 35 civilian police, 42 international staff and 287 local staff on the island.

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.