By Jean Christou
AS THE United Nations announces yet another initiative to restart the stalled Cyprus talks, there would seem never to have been so great an interest from the international community, with countries and world bodies falling over themselves to appoint special envoys and emissaries.
“Cyprus should be in the Guinness Book of Records,” a Western diplomat told the Cyprus Mail. “No place on this planet has so many emissaries, envoys and Excellencies per capita as Cyprus has.”
According to the official list, there are currently 12 special Cyprus representatives honing their diplomatic skills on the notorious Cyprus problem.
These include UN Chief of Mission Dame Ann Hercus, US presidential emissary Richard Holbrooke and Sir David Hannay, who wears two hats, serving as both Britain’s special envoy and that of the European Union.
One diplomatic source referred to them as the “Dirty Dozen”, suggesting that with such a title something might perhaps finally be achieved on the Cyprus problem.
Before January 1997, it was mainly envoys from the United Nations, the United States and the United Kingdom that worked on the Cyprus issue, but in the last 18 months alone, no less than seven diplomats have been appointed as special envoys to the island. These come from Finland, Russia, Sweden, Germany, Canada, Australia and the Commonwealth.
They may not have the high profile of such heavyweights as Sir David, or Holbrooke and his sidekick Thomas Miller (who is the State Department’s Cyprus ‘special co-ordinator’), or the UN Secretary-general’s special representative Diego Cordovez, but some of these envoys do carry some clout, according to diplomatic sources.
“The Germans and the Russians are also important,” one source said.
For the other countries, the source said, it’s “more of a domestic issue than a real contribution”.
These countries want to learn more about the Cyprus problem for their own information; Finland, for example, is about to over the EU’s rotating presidency, and is aware that Cyprus will figure high on the agenda.
“Others, knowing that the Cyprus issue will continue and may adversely affect the work of the UN, have also taken an interest to be better prepared to deal with the problems of Greece and Turkey,” the source added.
With a special representative to cover every month of the year, the set-up could from a distance be viewed as something of a diplomatic gravy train.
But according to another diplomatic source, being an emissary for Cyprus is no picnic at all.
“No it’s not a gravy train. These people are not paid a lot for their few odd visits to Cyprus; and anyway they always end up sitting talking with Spyros Kyprianou rather then sitting on the beach enjoying themselves,” said the source, who did not wish to be named.
He did not agree that it might be a case of “too many cooks spoiling the broth”. He said the ‘lesser’ envoys were not actively engaged in trying to bring the two sides together in the same way as tough talkers Cordovez, Holbrooke, Miller and Sir David.
However, the source did admit that the number of envoys appointed for Cyprus did reveal something very important.
“It is a demonstration of the fascination the international community has for the Cyprus problem,” he said.
Who’s Who
Diego Cordovez – UN Secretary-general’s special representative for Cyprus, 1997
Dame Ann Hercus – UN Secretary-general’s deputy special representative for Cyprus, 1998
Richard Holbrooke – US Presidential emissary for Cyprus, 1996
Thomas Miller – US State Department’s Special Co-ordinator for Cyprus, 1997
Sir David Hannay – Britain’s Special Envoy for Cyprus, 1996
Sir David Hannay – The EU’s Special Representative for Cyprus, 1998
Joakko Blomberg – Finnish Foreign Minister’s Personal Representative for Cyprus, 1998
Vladimir Tchizhov – Special Representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry for Cyprus, 1997
Kai Falkman – Special Envoy of the Swedish Foreign Ministry for Cyprus, 1997
Detlev Graf zu Rantzau – Special Representative of Germany for Cyprus, 1997
Michael R Bell – Canadian Special Representative for Cyprus, 1997
Krif Srinivasan – Commonwealth Special Representative for Cyprus, 1997
John Spender – Australian Special Representative for Cyprus, 1998
