Spehar to meet Cyprus leaders before flying to New York

The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Cyprus and head of the UN peace-keeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Elizabeth Spehar’s office is currently working on a draft of the UN Secretary General’s report on UNFICYP which it will submit, by the end of the year, to the UN Secretariat, a well-informed source has told the Cyprus News Agency (CNA).

According to the same source, the UN Secretariat will then finalize the report that is expected to circulate as an official document of the UN Security Council during the second week of January.

Spehar will fly to New York next month to brief the UN Security Council during its session on the UNFICYP report that is expected to take place during the third week of January, before the adoption of the resolution for the renewal of the peace-keeping force’s mandate at the end of January.

The same source said that before flying to New York, Spehar will hold, in early January, meetings with Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci to listen to their positions and opinions on the latest developments.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The last round of negotiations, in the summer of 2017, at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

Comprising military and civilian personnel from various contributing countries, UNFICYP arrived in Cyprus in March 1964 after inter communal fighting broke out. The mandate of the force is renewed every six months by the UN Security Council.