By Andrew Adamides
THE GOVERNMENT is playing its cards close to its chest at this “critical” juncture, Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides said yesterday.
Addressing his daily press briefing, Stylianides said
the government expected the international community to pressure Turkey to become more involved in procedures that might lead to the demilitarisation of Cyprus.
He also refused to comment on what UN Security Council resolutions expected this month might be, saying “intense consultations at the UN and the international community level are now taking place”, but that no details could be revealed “for tactical reasons.”
However, he said the government was closely monitoring all on-going consultations.
Stylianides said it was not clear when the Security Council would discuss the Cyprus issue because of its current preoccupation with the crisis in the Gulf.
His statements came a day after UN Permanent Representative Dame Ann Hercus told the press that her shuttle talks were to continue as long as progress was being made.
Hercus was speaking at her end of year press briefing at the Ledra Palace hotel on Sunday, before leaving the island yesterday to spend Christmas in her native New Zealand.
Describing her meetings with President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash as “intensive”, she said they provided her with a “special and concentrated” opportunity to talk to both leaders and to get to know them better.
She stressed that the confidential nature of the talks was paramount to their success, adding that she was not telling one leader what the other had said, as this meant both “have an opportunity to talk freely and frankly with me, and they do.”
“Because of that privacy and confidentiality, ideas can be explored in a way which is impossible in a public debate with the media hanging on every word,” she went on, adding that many had expressed support for the confidentiality of the talks, including journalists.
Hercus said that no time limit had been placed on the shuttle talks, because “it makes no sense to set a time limit on that process, except one of common sense.”
The question of direct proximity talks between the two leaders themselves had not been raised, she said.
The UN representative added that she had been able to report to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan that a “substantive and substantial” process was under way and that she was looking forward to 1999 as a “practical, creative realist”.
Asked how she could say there was progress if the two leaders did not know what she was discussing with each other, Hercus replied: “because I conjoin them in the middle. If you work it out, it is actually a very sensible and very common process.”
Hercus also commended Unficyp for preventing tension, and the two sides for maintaining the cease-fire, saying there had been “no major incidents”. However, she expressed concern about hunters entering the buffer zone, as in their camouflage outfits they could be mistaken for soldiers by both sides.
On a more alarming note, she said there had been an increasing number of crossings of the maritime security line. Unficyp had decided to take action on this, she went on, to which end there would be improved markings on the shore so that boat operators “can better ascertain their exact position”.
Hercus added that the six-monthly Secretary-general’s special report on the operations of Unficyp had been submitted to the UN Security Council on December 7, but its discussion has been postponed until next week as a result of the Iraq crisis. For the same reason, the discussion of a December 14 report on the shuttle talks submitted by Kofi Annan had likewise been postponed.
At the same time, Hercus announced that Sarah Russel would be taking up her duties as the new Unficyp spokeswoman on January 4.
