Top UN diplomat to visit Cyprus?

IBRAHIM Gambari, UN Under-Secretary-general for Political Affairs, may visit Cyprus next month as part of continuing UN efforts to help launch a fresh initiative on Cyprus, the Cyprus News Agency (CNA) reported yesterday.

Quoting diplomatic sources, CNA said Gambari, who succeeds Sir Kieran Prendergast is in charge of the Cyprus dossier by virtue of his post dealing with Political Affairs, has expressed his intention to visit the island “once he has mastered the dossier.”

The senior UN diplomat is said to have shown “keen interest” in Cyprus during a meeting in New York on Tuesday with Foreign Minister George Iacovou, which was been described as “very friendly”.

Gambari, a seasoned high-ranking UN official, is an experienced diplomat and is well acquainted with the question of Cyprus.

At a meeting in New York on Tuesday, certain issues were clarified and there were some discussions on the Annan plan, CNA said.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Iacovou participated in a three-hour meeting of European Union foreign ministers with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during which the Middle East issue, the situation in Iran, Iraq and Russia as well as UN reform featured prominently.

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.