UN names third member to CMP

THE UNITED Nations yesterday announced the appointment of Christophe Girod as the third member of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).

His appointment has been approved by the leaders of both communities, Tassos Papadopoulos and Mehmet Ali Talat, a statement from UNFICYP said yesterday.

The statement said Girod “brings with him 20 years of humanitarian work experience”, having most recently served as the Head of the Regional Delegation for the US and Canada of the International Committee of the Red Cross.  

UNFICYP expects that he will assume his official duties in early June, the statement added.

Girod’s arrival on the island will set the stage for the first meeting between President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat since before the April 2004 referendum on the Annan plan.

The two leaders have agreed to meet on the occasion of the appointment of the third member of the CMP, but the meeting is largely symbolic as groundwork on the missing persons is done by the tri-partite committee.
They agreed the issue of missing persons was a humanitarian one and should not be exploited politically.

The meeting on missing persons is separate from the issue of technical committees to be set up to discuss day-to-day issues between the two sides, as agreed during the February meeting between Papadopoulos and UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan.

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