THE U.N. could put forward a third version of Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s peace plan, government spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday.
Speculation had been rife for weeks that a third version of the plan was in the pipeline but nothing official was announced.
But Papapetrou told reporters yesterday that such a plan might be presented “very soon”. He was speaking after a working breakfast between President Glafcos Clerides and Britain’s special Cyprus envoy Lord David Hannay.
“We have no specific information about a new peace plan being put forward but I believe this is a possibility that we should focus our attention on,” Papapetrou said. “Since the UN is working with the timeframe of February 28 in mind, you should understand that if they are going to move in this direction, then they would do so very soon.”
Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash are engaged in face-to-face talks in an attempt to reach a settlement by February 28, which aims to give both sides enough time plan separate referenda by March 30 so that a united Cyprus can join the EU in April.
Denktash has objected to the current second version of the plan, saying he would rather resign than sign it as is. The UN has made it clear that there is not much scope for major changes to plan, which they believe is balanced.
Papapetrou said that the UN Secretary General’s special adviser on Cyprus Alvaro de Soto met twice over the weekend with Denktash but did not see Clerides.
He said Denktash was seeking detailed clarifications on the UN proposal, which the Greek Cypriot side did in early December when the revised proposal was first presented to the two sides. At the time Denktash had refused to seek any clarification, he added.
Commenting on Clerides’ meeting with Hannay, Papapetrou said they had reviewed the latest developments.
“The President reiterated our determination to seek a solution that would secure the fundamental parameters of the objectives of the people of Cyprus, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, which we consider necessary so that an agreed settlement can work,” Papapetrou said. “Lord Hannay said that time constraints are becoming tight and efforts must intensify to open up avenues that would lead to a solution.”
Hannay, who arrived on the island on Saturday for contacts with both sides, told reporters after the meeting that the month ahead was going to be a long, complex and very difficult time as far as negotiations for a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus were concerned.
He said decisions taken in the coming weeks would affect all interested parties and he pledged that London would do its best to secure a positive outcome in the negotiations for all concerned.
“We are now just entering the last month of a long, complex and extremely difficult negotiation,” he said after a 50-minute-long meeting with Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides.
“The decisions that will be taken during this last month will be of great importance and consequence for everyone concerned and the British government will be doing its best to ensure that the outcome is positive for everyone concerned,” he said.
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.
