UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s visit to Cyprus on July 27-29 for talks with the island’s leaders reflects “very intense political efforts” by Guterres and his Personal Envoy for the Cyprus problem, María Ángela Holguín, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, told the Cyprus News Association (CNA) on Thursday during a press briefing for journalists in Brussels.
Responding to a CNA question, Lacroix said he hoped the visit would move the political track forward, while making clear that his own role is kept deliberately separate from the substance of the negotiations.
UNFICYP’s work is directly linked to the political process, he explained, since it focuses on creating conditions on the ground that support continued political efforts. He added that he was comfortable staying at a distance from the highly sensitive negotiations, which are conducted with the necessary degree of confidentiality.
UNFICYP has met its mandate, Lacroix says
Asked whether the situation on the ground differs from his last visit to Cyprus in April, including regarding the Pyla plateau, Lacroix gave a broader assessment of the mission’s performance rather than addressing specific points of friction. UNFICYP is a mission that has lived up to its mandate, he said, and that mandate is clear: maintaining the ceasefire through monitoring. Any incident should move towards de-escalation rather than tension, he added, or, in his words, a return to hostilities. He assessed that UNFICYP has met and continues to meet that standard.
Lacroix directly linked the peacekeeping mandate to the diplomatic effort led by Guterres and Holguín, warning that any renewed tension would carry consequences for the political effort.
Whatever the mandate, he noted, it ultimately serves political ends, whether that means ceasefire monitoring or a broader remit. It is always, in the end, about supporting efforts towards a viable political solution, he concluded.
Tangible results needed to move to five-party talks
A UN diplomatic source in Brussels said tangible results would be needed from the visit and the three-way meeting with Cyprus’s leaders in order to move to five-party talks.
The source denied recent press reports about the existence of a plan, stressing the UN’s focus on preparing for Guterres’s visit to the island at the end of July and his meeting with the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders.
That preparation also encompasses Holguín’s parallel contacts, both in Brussels and in Ankara today, July 24th.
(Information from Cyprus News Association)
