Special Representative of UNSG in Cyprus Colin Stewart expressed on Monday his concern over incidents of militarisation of the buffer zone and of increasing incursions saying that all these undermine their mandate in Cyprus and their ability to maintain the integrity of the buffer zone.
Stewart was received by President Nikos Christodoulides on Monday afternoon, in light of his visit to the UN headquarters to brief the UN Security Council. He is set to meet with Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on Tuesday.
Speaking to the press after his meeting with President Christodoulides he said that he is getting ready to go to New York next week to brief the Security Council. As he said he is traveling on Saturday and will be back in early August. The UNSG Representative said that they discussed the issues that are before the Security Council and he expressed his concern about the continuing militarisation of the buffer zone.
He spoke of continuing tensions that he sees here on the island and he said that he expre
ssed the hope that there will be some progress in the political process ‘because we see a direct relationship between having some form of movement in the political process and to keeping the peace on the ground and if the political process were to come to some end, then I fear that there would be consequences in the buffer zone as well.’
He said that he mentioned to President Christodoulides that there have been some positive developments in this reporting period, some successful pilgrimages in both directions which, he added, ‘are good, they build confidence, they build hope for a peaceful future’. Stewart said that the President shared with him his views.
Invited to refer to examples of militarisation of the buffer zone that he referred to, Stewart said that ‘as you will see in the Secretary General’s report, that should be out in the next couple of days, we have the construction of significant defensive positions, we have an increase in the use of military technology, sensors, cameras along the buffer zo
ne, we have seen a record increase in the number of incursions into the buffer zone.’
He went on to say that ‘all of this undermines the United Nation’s mandate in Cyprus and our ability to maintain integrity of the buffer zone which is the foundation for the work we our doing here.’
Replying to a question about any updates regarding the stranded migrants in the buffer zone, the UN official said that as of today we have 28 migrants, and this was also raised by President Christodoulides.
‘I explained to him the situation, they are in difficult circumstances, the UN is providing them with food, water and shelter but they are still in very difficult circumstances and I told them that we fully supported the work of the UNHCR which is engaging with the government to try to find a longer term solution,’ Stewart said.
Replying to a question if there are any plans to send them back to Turkey where they came from, he answered ‘No’.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern
third.
Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Last January, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.
Source: Cyprus News Agency