Peace protesters plan human chain across the Green Line

TWO organizations – the Greek Cypriot ‘Solution Now’ and Turkish Cypriot ‘This Nation is Ours’, both of which are made up of NGOs campaigning for a solution to the Cyprus problem – yesterday issued a joint declaration yesterday calling on the public to join them in forming a human chain across the Green Line on Monday evening.

The invitation to take part was issued at a news conference held at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the buffer zone in Nicosia and was accompanied by a declaration entitled ‘Cyprus Needs a Solution Now’.

The declaration said that the 40-year-old Cyprus problem had come as a result of foreign interests on the island and that it was time for the Cypriots to take the future into their own hands.

It added that whatever the outcome of ongoing negotiations in Switzerland on the UN’s Annan plan for Cyprus, they would back it in the interest of long-term peace on the island.

The declaration also said that co-operation between the two communities would reduce the need for long-term ‘transitional periods’ to safeguard the interests of one community from the other.

Organisers say the human chain event is designed to coincide with the four-way negotiations in Switzerland and would send a message to negotiators on both sides on the wishes of the Cypriot people.

Starting at 7.30pm on Monday, the organisers hope to form a human chain from one side of the Ledra Palace checkpoint to the other. They will also hold a candle-lit vigil.

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