Nicosia: The visit of UN Secretary-General Ant³nio Guterres to Cyprus on July 27-29 for talks with the leaders is taking place "against the backdrop of very sustained political efforts" on the part of the Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy on the Cyprus problem, Maria Angela Holgun, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, told CNA on Thursday, during a briefing to journalists in Brussels.
According to Cyprus News Agency, Lacroix, who was responding to a question from CNA, added that he hopes the visit will "provide additional steps for progress" on the political front, while making clear that his own role is kept separate from the substance of the negotiations. "What we do with UNFICYP is germane to the political process, because it's about creating conditions on the ground that are more conducive to political efforts being continuous," he said. "The good news for me is that I'm staying away from being too much involved in those political negotiations, which are extremely sensitive and kept with the necessary degree of confidentiality," he added.
Asked whether the situation on the ground looks different from his last visit to Cyprus in April, including with regard to the Pyla plateau, Lacroix did not address specific flashpoints, offering instead a broader assessment of the mission's performance. "UNFICYP is a mission that has delivered on its mandate," he said. "The mandate is straightforward - preserving the ceasefire by monitoring and making sure that anything that happens, any incident which has the potential of escalation, is taken care of," he noted. He described the mission's role as "working for de-escalation, and avoiding potential tension, or, God forbid, the resumption of hostilities," adding that "from that point of view, UNFICYP has delivered and continues to deliver."
Lacroix linked the peacekeeping mandate directly to the diplomatic track led by Guterres and Holgun. "It's fundamental to these political efforts, because if you see any resumption of tension - and again, God forbid the resumption of serious tension - then you can imagine the impact on the political efforts," he said. "Whatever the mandate, ultimately they are political - they're about supporting political efforts, whether you're talking about simply monitoring a ceasefire or a bigger mandate. It's always, at the end of the day, about providing support for efforts towards a durable political solution," the UN official said in conclusion.
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 due to Turkish intransigence. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively. After informal meetings in 2025, followed by a hiatus of several months, deliberations are underway for a new meeting in broader format to be held, as the term of the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres nears its end. Mara Angela Holgun, Guterres' Personal Envoy on Cyprus, is tasked to engage with the parties.