Britain and the US appear to be consulting over the content of a draft resolution for the renewal of UNFICYP ‘s mandate, since it has not yet been submitted to the other Security Council permanent members, the Cyprus News Agency said citing a diplomatic source.
The US has put forward a series of criteria concerning all peace keeping missions in the world which they promote to all UN Security Council mandate renewal resolutions.
They mainly have to do with the peace keeping missions serving the purpose of the political process and for there to be an exit strategy.
It seems, according to the source, that consultations between the British and American diplomats have to do with the wording of the UNFICYP resolution so that on the one hand it satisfies a minimum of US aims while not undermining the forthcoming mission in Cyprus of UN official Jane Holl Lute on behalf of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Lute is also expected to be in contact with Guterres before she departs for Cyprus, where she will have separate meetings with the two leaders, Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Jonathan Cohen expressed yesterday his satisfaction over Lute’s mission and reiterated the US position that the presence of peace keeping operations should be linked with the progress achieved in the political process and that when such progress is absent then operations should be reviewed.
Greek Cypriot negotiator, Ambassador Andreas Mavroyiannis had a meeting with Cohen on Tuesday as well as with the British permanent representative in the UN. He travels to Washington where he set to have, among others, a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell.
Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 Turkish invasion. The latest round of peace talks, in July last year, ended inconclusively.
The United Nations Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), comprising military and civilian personnel from various contributing countries, arrived in Cyprus in March 1964 after intercommunal fighting broke out. The mandate of the force is renewed every six months by the Security Council.
