UN denies plans to move out had Tassos won

UNFICYP yesterday denied that the UN had been making tentative plans to extricate itself from Cyprus if President Tassos Papadopoulos had been re-elected.

A brief statement from UNFICYP said reports that such a move had been in the pipeline were “totally baseless and irresponsible”.

“The United Nations has been in Cyprus for over four decades helping to keep the peace and assisting the parties in their search for a comprehensive solution,” the statement said.  

“It will continue to do so as long as Cypriots and the international community deem it necessary.”

But according to the information obtained by the Cyprus Mail, the UN was keeping in mind what it would do in the event Papadopoulos won and the international community was faced with another five years of deadlock.

The UN has been planning to send a team of envoys after the election to assess the situation on the ground.

The visit was not contingent on who would win the election but the purpose and outcome of the assessment was the difference between new negotiations, none at all, or worse.

If Papadopoulos had been returned to power, the team’s assessment would have focused, not on new talks but “to see how gracefully the UN could remove itself from Cyprus”, according to the Mail’s information.

But Papadopoulos’ ouster in the first round on Sunday has given the international community new hope for negotiations. The UN team that will visit will now focus on efforts to kick-start new talks.

The vote for pro-solution candidates on Sunday has “put a new colour” on the stock-taking mission and the clear show of support for a solution by the Greek Cypriot electorate has given a huge boost to UN morale on Cyprus.

Nearly two thirds of Greek Cypriots voted on Sunday for pro-solution candidates, ousting President Tassos Papadopoulos.

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.