Annan: Cyprus no longer exclusively UN problem

U.N. SECRETARY-general Kofi Annan said the Cyprus problem had become a problem for Europe and must be dealt with as quickly as possible.
Annan was speaking during his farewell press conference in New York late on Tuesday.
“The Cyprus issue is not an issue that affects only the two communities or Turkey and Greece, as today it has also become a European problem and it is something that we need to resolve as quickly as we can,” he said.

“I think it is important to find a way resolving this and I hope the UN will preside to deal with it.”

Annan, whose name has been immortalised on the UN’s failed reunification plan for Cyprus, said he did not think his successor Ban Ki Moon who assumes next month would change the UN’s approach to the Cyprus problem.

”I’m sure he will proceed along the same lines,” Annan said ,adding that the UN was still engaged with the parties and that his Special Representative in Cyprus Michael Moller was working with them “to build confidence.”

”’We have certain specific activities that the two of them are engaged in and I have indicated to them at the appropriate time when we believe the time is right we will name a full time negotiator, mediator to work with them.”

The UN hopes to have preparations completed for the start of new Cyprus talks by the end of March. But he has repeatedly said the UN would not launch a new initiative unless the political will to see it through to a comprehensive settlement was shown by both sides.
The two sides are currently engaged in talks to set up working and technical committees to ease the path towards new talks.

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.