The United Nations are not in the business of giving ultimatums, the UN chief’s spokesperson said when asked about the upcoming informal meeting on the Cyprus problem.
“We are not in the business of giving ultimatums, like ‘we’ll give up if something doesn’t happen`,” said Stéphane Dujarric.
He was asked whether the UN will give up this time if they don`t get anything done.
“If you look at the even flow of our efforts on Cyprus, there have been ups, there have been flows,” he also said.
“Ms. Jane Holl Lute (UN’s special envoy on Cyprus) has been consulting with the parties. We think this is an opportune time. It’s an informal meeting and we very much hope there will be a positive outcome”, he added.
On Wednesday, the UN announced that an informal five-plus-one meeting on the Cyprus issue will take place between April 27-29 in Geneva.
The purpose is to determine whether common ground exists for the parties to negotiate a lasting solution to the Cyprus problem, within a foreseeable horizon.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.
The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
