By Jean Christou
THE U.N. Security Council has renewed Unficyp’s for a further six months in an unprecedentedly brief statement, which has caused consternation in some political quarters, but appears to have sidestepped the objections of both sides.
Yesterday the UN also issued an addendum to UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan’s November 29 report on the peacekeeping mission, referring to the stance of the Turkish Cypriot side.
On Monday, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash threatened to restrict Unficyp’s movement if he didn’t like the wording of the mandate resolution, particularly the usual reference to the government of Cyprus. He also threatened not to return to UN-backed talks on the Cyprus issue if the wording was not right.
In the end, the new resolution does refer to the government of Cyprus, but, in deference to Denktash, it omits other language usually found in such resolutions that the Turkish Cypriots object to. This includes wording that a settlement of the Cyprus problem must be based on a state “with a single sovereignty and international personality and a single citizenship,” and must comprise a “bi-communal and bi-zonal federation.”
But to compensate for dropping language that the Greek Cypriots consider essential, the resolution reaffirms all the council’s “relevant resolutions on Cyprus, in particular” the most recent Unficyp renewal last June, that included all the language omitted this time.
Yesterday’s addendum to Annan’s report said the governments of Cyprus, Britain and Greece indicated their agreement with the proposed extension of the Force.
It also takes note of the Turkish Cypriot threats.
“The government of Turkey has indicated that it concurs with and supports the position of the Turkish Cypriot party, namely that Unficyp can operate on both sides of the island only on the basis of the consent of both parties and that the Turkish Cypriot authorities will accordingly request Unficyp to work with them to develop modalities of Unficyp’s operations in northern Cyprus,” the addendum said.
The entire Unficyp renewal procedure has come under fire, not only from the Turkish side.
The US, which drafted the final text, took particular pains to avoid any complications to the proximity talks that ended in New York on Tuesday.
In what was seen as a move to appease Denktash, an earlier draft of the resolution omitted most of the elements to which he usually objects. President Clerides then sent a strong objection to the UN saying he would prefer the mandate not be renewed at all than to accept the draft, leading to the compromise resolution that appeared to satisfy all sides.
But there was a mixed reaction from political parties on the island yesterday. Akel, the opposition communist party, said the resolution was a negative development. “They are trying to change things to suit Denktash,” said party spokesman Nicos Katsourides. “There is no specific mention of the parameters for a solution”. An announcement from centre-right Diko expressed almost identical views.
Socialist Edek and government coalition partners United Democrats said they noticed there had been a change in the wording of the resolution, but said the essence of the Cyprus issue had not been compromised.
However, President Clerides laid all doubts to rest when he returned to the island from New York yesterday.
He said the resolution may not have spelled out the parameters of a Cyprus solution as usual, but “when you reaffirm something with a resolution its as if you write it in full,” he said.
