UNITED Nations offices in Cyprus returned to normal yesterday after it was determined that an envelope of white powder which triggered an anthrax scare on Wednesday was harmless.
An announcement from the UN said they had received official confirmation from the Cypriot authorities that tests conducted on the substance showed it was harmless and posed no danger to anyone.
A senior official at the Veterinary Department, where the substance was tested, told the Cyprus Mail that microscopic examinations had revealed the substance to be grainy rather than powdery.
It was neither salt nor sugar, the official said. “It seems to be of vegetable origin,” he added. “It was not a fine powder. It was a coarse substance.”
Further tests were to be carried out yesterday to determine if there was any bacterial content, but all probability of danger was ruled out, both the authorities and the UN said.
“As a result staff are now returning to their offices,” the UN announcement said.
Spokesman Brian Kelly said that the joint Greek and Turkish Cypriot technical committee working on a new Cyprus constitution would resume work yesterday afternoon.
He also said that the talks between the two Cypriot leaders, which were moved to the UN-controlled Ledra Palace Hotel as a precaution on Wednesday, would resume at the UN Nicosia Airport base today.
Fifty people, including the Greek and Turkish Cypriot legal experts taking part in a technical committee meeting at the time of the scare, had to undergo “preliminary decontamination procedures” before leaving the UN base on Wednesday afternoon.
The envelope was mailed from abroad addressed to the “De Soto Office” at the airport. Alvaro de Soto, the Peruvian diplomat who has been overseeing talks between the two sides for more than a year was returning from Ankara at the time.
The UN would not reveal where the envelope was posted but all indications are that it was from the US.
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.
