Elders Tutu, Carter and Brahimi head to Cyprus to promote talks process
ELDER STATESMEN Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu and Lakhdar Brahimi will visit Cyprus on October 8 and 9 to support and bring more international attention to the new negotiations process, it was announced yesterday.
The three distinguished personalities belong to a group of 12 roving ambassadors called The Elders, an organisation set up last year by Nelson Mandela on his 89th birthday. The Elders hope to offer their collective experience and independent voices to support co-operative approaches to addressing global challenges.
During their two-day visit to Cyprus, the three men will meet President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat who are due to hold their next meeting on October 10.
The Elders are to urge the international community to embrace the fact that a lasting settlement is within reach in Cyprus and to actively support the leaders and the peace process.
They also want to commend Christofias and Talat for their efforts to reunify the island.
“After decades of division, this is a time of hope for the people of this beautiful island. These opportunities don’t come around very often,” said Archbishop Tutu, chairman of The Elders.
“The Elders will not be involved in the negotiations themselves; that is for the Cypriots to do,” he said. “However, we will do what we can to ensure that the foresight and courage of Mr Talat and Mr Christofias are acknowledged and supported in Cyprus, in the region and around the world.”
A spokesman for the British High Commission said yesterday the visit was very positive.
“I think it’s a sign that the international community is taking the current process very seriously, and it is keen to encourage them,” the spokesman said.
The high-profile trio also hopes to meet political and civil society representatives from both communities, as well as the UN officials who are facilitating and assisting the peace process.
UNFICYP spokesman Jose Diaz said yesterday The Elders had contacted the UN on Thursday about the visit. He said UNFICYP would also be facilitating the three statesmen during their stay.
“The visit was their idea and their initiative,” he said. “What they want is to marshal more international support for the (Cyprus) process.
Diaz said the three men all had distinguished track records in other situations of conflict and resolution. “They definitely can bring their influence and prestige to the process,” he said.
Archbishop Tutu, 77, is known for his long struggle against apartheid in South Africa. In 1994, after the end of apartheid and the election of Nelson Mandela, he was appointed as Chairman of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Jimmy Carter, 84, a democrat, served as US President from 1977 to 1981, and since then has been a champion of human rights around the world.
Lakhdar Brahimi, 74, a former Algerian ambassador, has spent 40 years helping to keep the peace across the world. Now at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he lectures regularly in the US, Europe, Africa and the Arab world on international relations, conflict and conflict resolution.
The remainder of the 12 Elders include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, former Irish President Mary Robinson, and Ela Bhatt, lawyer and founder of India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association.
The Elders global mission is to offer their skills and experience to support peaceful resolution to conflicts, to articulate new approaches to global issues that cause human suffering, and to share wisdom by helping to connect voices all over the world.
“We are moving to a global village and yet we don’t have our global elders,” The Elders state on their website.
“The elders can be a group who have the trust of the world, who can speak freely, be fiercely independent and respond fast and flexibly in conflict situations,” it adds.
