Cyprus backs greater role for Dame Ann

CYPRUS said yesterday it had given the green light for the UN Secretary- general to appoint chief of mission Ann Hercus as his special representative on the island.

In Wednesday’s mission of good offices in Cyprus report, Kofi Annan announced his “intention” to give Hercus a more high-profile job description as of July 1.

“The government has already accepted through a formal response her appointment to the post of the UN’s Secretary-general’s special representative for Cyprus,” government spokesman Costas Serezis said yesterday.

Hercus’ appointment fills the gap left by the resignation in April of Diego Cordovez from the post of Special advisor to the Secretary-general on Cyprus.

Serezis also said the government had requested the “active participation of the UN Secretary-general in any talks.”

This comes in the wake of Annan announcing he was ready to invite the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides for comprehensive peace talks “without preconditions”.

CyBC has suggested the venue for talks might be West Point, New York and the date October 10.

Nevertheless, President Clerides will play a wait and see approach before he replies to Annan’s invitation, Serezis said yesterday.

He said Clerides would make “no public comment” until after the National Council — the top advisory body to the president on the Cyprus issue — meets next Wednesday.

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.