President intends to meet Spehar ahead of UNSC consultations on UNFICYP, source tells CNA

Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, intends to have a meeting and discuss with the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative and head of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Elizabeth Spehar, prior to her departure for New York, where she will brief the UN Security Council on July 19, ahead of the adoption of the resolution for the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate on July 30, CNA has learned.

A source has told the Agency that a meeting between Anastasiades and Spehar may take place, noting that this will depend on the President’s recovery, as he underwent an operation on Saturday after fracturing his right hip during a fall on Saturday in Limassol. The President is expected to be discharged from hospital later this week. He is expected to return to his duties in about two to three weeks after the surgery.

Anastasiades was set to meet with Spehar on June 28, however their meeting was postponed at Spehar’s request and was arranged for July 8.

As before any UN Security Council meeting on Cyprus, the Special Representative “will be having contacts with both sides ahead of her trip to New York” a UN source told the Agency.

According to the Security Council provisional programme of work for this month, the UN Secretary-General’s report on UNFICYP is due to be handed over to the Security Council on July 10.

Spehar will brief the Security Council on July 19, while the adoption of the resolution for the renewal of UNFICYP’s mandate will take place on July 30.  A meeting with UNFICYP troop contributing countries will take place on July 15.

Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis has been carrying out contacts in New York in view of the Secretary-General’s report on UNFICYP and the Security Council consultations for this issue.

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 intercommunal fighting broke out. The mandate of the force is renewed every six months by the UN Security Council.

(Cyprus News Agency)

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