UN’s Lute due back in January for fresh push on five party meeting

UN Secretary-General’s special envoy Jane Holl Lute is expected to return to the island within the first half of January as part of efforts to convene an informal five-party meeting on the Cyprus problem, reports said on Wednesday.

The Cyprus News Agency, citing sources, reported that Lute is expected to visit Cyprus within the first half of January for contacts with the two sides on the island as part of preparation for an informal five plus one meeting (Cyprus’ two community leaders, guarantors Greece, Turkey and the UK and the UN).

The same source said, citing information, that UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, wants to prepare the informal conference as best as possible. “It is important that the five-party summit convenes, and the sides formally state their positions,” the same source added.

Lute is expected to also visit Turkey again, the source said.

The government has said on several occasions that the five-party summit will be of a procedural nature so that all sides will discuss the way forward.

Though both sides are willing to participate in such a meeting, the Turkish Cypriot leader and Turley insist that a two-state solution ought to be put on the table, arguing that talks on a bizonal, bicommunal federation have led nowhere.

President Nicos Anastasiades, on the other hand, states he is ready to discuss a federal solution as provided for in UN resolutions.

Lute held separate meetings with Anastasiades and Tatar at the beginning of December and has had contacts in Athens, Ankara and London.

In the meantime, the UN Secretary-General’s reports on Unficyp and his Good Offices mission in Cyprus are expected to be submitted to the UN Security Council around January 10.

The Security Council will hold a discussion about the reports probably the week beginning on January 25 and a resolution for the renewal of Unficyp’s mandate for another six months will be put to the vote before January 31.

UNSG Special Representative in Cyprus, Elizabeth Spehar, is expected to hold separate consultations with Anastasiades, and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar, either in person or by telephone, after January 7, however nothing has been scheduled so far, CNA reports.

 

 

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.