‘Cool’ troubleshooter De Soto to move here in June

ALVARO de Soto, the United Nations mediator for the proximity talks on a Cyprus settlement, will take up residence on the island in June.

The Acting UN chief of mission on the island, James Holger, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that De Soto will take over from him and become the UN Secretary-general’s special representative in Cyprus after the third round of proximity talks in New York.

Holger said the next round of indirect talks between President Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash, set to begin on May 23, "could be open-ended".

De Soto will arrive for his first visit on February 29, staying for a week until March 7. Holger called this a "familiarisation" or "orientation" visit, including only "courtesy calls" on Clerides and Denktash and no actual negotiations.

Holger said De Soto coming to stay in Cyprus would be "good news" for the settlement process.

He described the Peruvian diplomat as a "cool cat" with a "wonderful sense of humour", who was well able to handle anything Clerides or Denktash might throw at him during talks.

"Alvaro de Soto is the UN troubleshooter to handle delicate problems," Holger said.

"I am very happy he is coming," he said, adding that there was now a "glimmer of hope" for a settlement.

Before the second round of proximity talks, which ended on Tuesday in Geneva, UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan said he thought a Cyprus settlement was possible within a year.

Many observers see this timeframe as over-optimistic, but Holger said there were now a number of external factors that augured well for a settlement.

Annan’s representative in Cyprus said these factors were the thaw in Greco-Turkish relations, the EU opening the door to Turkish candidacy, and the active involvement of a number of foreign powers in the settlement effort.

No concrete results were announced after the Geneva proximity talks, but both Clerides and Denktash said they were satisfied with the progress made. De Soto said the talks process was "on track".

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.