By Jean Christou
THE UNION of Journalists yesterday challenged Unficyp Chief of Mission Dame Ann Hercus to prove her claim that she was not behind the omission of the missing persons issue from UN resolutions on Cyprus passed last week.
In a written statement, the Union condemned Dame Ann for her recent attack on the media in the pages of Politis.
The union statement quoted Dame Ann as saying the local press was rife with rumour and fantastic stories on the work of Unficyp — the like of which was “not seen in north Cyprus and other places in the world”.
She also said that 90 per cent of the Greek Cypriot media refused to address inaccuracies.
Dame Ann was angered last week by reports that she had been behind the omission of the missing persons issue in the new UN resolutions.
On June 29, the Security Council passed two resolutions on Cyprus, one relating to the extension of Unficyp’s six-monthly mandate and the second on Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s mission of good offices on the island.
She was summoned to the Foreign Ministry to explain how the omission came about and later said that Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides had “totally accepted” her assurances that the media reports concerning the issue were wrong.
However, both Cassoulides and the government spokesman cast doubts on her explanation, saying that members of the Security Council had confirmed Dame Ann’s intervention in the issue.
Dame Ann categorically denied the allegations made against her, blaming media reports for getting it wrong.
On Saturday, Alithianewspaper also cast aspersions on Dame Ann, reporting that the government allegedly had documents which proved who was behind the omission.
The Union of Journalists’ statement yesterday challenged Dame Ann to provide proof that she had not been behind the omission.
The union said Dame Ann had the right — like any other person — to declare her views, but said it did not agree with the way she generalised, using “unrestrained, indiscriminate and inexcusable accusations.”
“She attacked the press because they gave accurate reports on the issue,” the statement said. “We call on her, since she insists, to prove her allegations beyond doubt.”
