UN mandate to be extended again

THE UN Security Council, in a draft resolution to be adopted tomorrow, has extended the mandate of UN Peacekeeping Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for a six-month period, ending June 15 next year.Meeting in New York on Friday night, the Security Council said it welcomed Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s November 12 report on the UN operation in Cyprus, particularly his call for the need to assess and address the humanitarian issue of missing persons with due urgency and seriousness. It also expressed concern “at the further continuing violations by the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkish forces at Strovilia, and urges them to restore the military status quo which existed there prior to June 30, 2000” and supported the withdrawal of all remaining restrictions on UNFICYP by the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkish forces.“The government of Cyprus has agreed that in view of the prevailing conditions in the island it is necessary to keep UNFICYP beyond December 15, 2003,” the Security Council said.

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.