EXPERTS from UN headquarters in New York are due on the island by the end of the month to carry out a review of operations of the peacekeeping force in Cyprus, UNFICYP, which was requested by Secretary-general Kofi Annan in June.
The team will probably consist of three or four UN experts who will remain on the island for several days, the Cyprus Mail has learned. They will then report back to Annan, who has asked for the review to be completed by the end of September.
The next six-monthly review of UNFICYP’s mandate will be December 15.
The Cyprus government is against any changes to the 1,200-strong force, which has been on the island for 40 years patrolling the 180km-long buffer zone.
Annan made his call for the September review during the last mandate renewal in June, following Greek Cypriot rejection of his reunification plan in referendum in April, which has prompted many see the move as a swipe at the Greek Cypriot side, which feels it’s being punished by the international community for its ‘no’ to the Annan plan. Under the plan, the number of UN troops would have doubled.
The announcement that a review was to be carried out prompted speculation that drastic reductions would be on the cards or even a withdrawal of troops, something that President Tassos Papadopoulos has said would be a mistake.
Foreign Minister George Iacovou was quoted yesterday as saying the government was ready to put forward its arguments to the UN team on why the force should be maintained as it stands. He said the government’s position on the issue had not changed, nor had the situation.
“The facts on the ground have not changed because there are still 36,000 Turkish soldiers with heavy armament and mines in the north, as well as the enclaved persons,” he said, adding that these were precisely the reasons the UN was on the island in the first place.
“The government is ready to see the UN Secretary-general’s representatives on a diplomatic, political and military level,” said Iacovou.
However, the international community feels it has seen enough changes to warrant a review of the force in Cyprus; changes affecting the status of the force include the opening of checkpoints in 2003, Turkey’s new conciliatory attitude and Cyprus’ EU accession in May, making it the only member state with a UN peacekeeping force on its soil.
“It should bear in mind that the implicit central purpose of all peacekeeping operations is to provide an environment conducive to the resolution of conflict,” Annan said in his June report, implying that in Cyprus, this may not be the case.
