Security council deadlocked over unified Cyprus plan

The United Nations Security Council remained divided today over a resolution backing Secretary General Kofi Annan’s plan to reunify Cyprus and calling on Greek and Turkish Cypriots to use it as a basis for a settlement.

Annan tried to get both sides to agree to the reunification plan so that a united Cyprus could sign a treaty on April 16 to join the European Union next year, but the talks collapsed last month when Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash rejected the proposal.

Council diplomats said the United States and Britain supported the draft resolution calling for “a comprehensive settlement” based on the secretary general’s ”carefully balanced plan”. But Russia and China did not want the resolution to mention any plan because Annan’s proposal was not accepted, the diplomats said.

More talks were due to be held today in a bid to reach an agreement, diplomats said.

Cyprus has been split into a Greek Cypriot-controlled south and a Turkish-occupied north since Turkey invaded in 1974 after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. The breakaway Turkish Cypriot state is recognised only by Turkey, which maintains 40,000 troops there.

In a 40-page report on his bid to settle the long-running Cypriot stalemate, Annan praised the Greek Cypriot contribution to the talks, and said Denktash “bears prime responsibility” for the failure of the effort launched in late 1999.

The secretary general told reporters yesterday that he would not embark on any new initiative until he saw “a genuine desire and change on the part of all the parties to want to settle this issue”.

Annan’s special envoy, Alvaro de Soto, presented the report to the council yesterday. He said a new initiative by the secretary general would require the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to commit to finalising the plan by a specific date without reopening debate on its key principles or key trade-offs.

“The onus is on the parties – and the motherlands – to demonstrate the political will to solve the problem on the basis of his plan, in the manner which the secretary general has suggested,” de Soto said.

Calling the failure to reach agreement “deeply disappointing”, he said the main problem was a lack of political will, although towards the end of negotiations ”when decisions had to be made, the crisis in Iraq loomed large”. This made it difficult, particularly for Turkey, ”to take the bold decisions, and bring the necessary influence to bear, in order to achieve a settlement”, he said.