UN Secretary General Kofi Annan unveiled a revised Cyprus peace plan today to Greek and Turkish officials hoping to unite the island after 30 years.
A UN official said the 9,000 page document, which sources involved in the talks said contained substantial changes, was given to Greek Cypriot, Turkish Cypriot, Greek and Turkish negotiators at a formal ceremony at the Alpine resort of Buergenstock on the shores of Lake Lucerne.
Mr Annan has taken personal charge of talks which are racing against a three-day deadline for a deal which would allow a united Cyprus to enter the European Union on May 1st.
The sources said revisions to a plan Mr Annan first presented more than a year ago included a proposed five percent reduction in land held by Turkish Cypriots to 29 percent and a reduction in the number of Greek Cypriots allowed to settle in the Turkish part of northern Cyprus.
But the main thrust of the plan for Cyprus to be governed under a loose federal system with large degrees of autonomy on domestic affairs for both communities, remains in place.
The United Nations has set Wednesday as the deadline for a deal and Mr Annan has a mandate to fill in any disputed gaps if the sides fail to agree. The plan is then due to go to referendums on both sides of Cyprus on April 20th.
Opinion polls show many Cypriots see economic attractions in a united Cyprus going into the EU, but that each side is wary of any deal that gives away too much to the other on issues such as freedom of movement on the island and property ownership.
If there is a deal in Buergenstock, the effort to unite Cyprus after 30 years of partition would finally depend on its approval by the referendums.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, set to join the talks today after his party won local elections on Sunday, is working the phones to US President George W. Bush and European leaders to press his case on the decades old standoff.
Greek Minister Costas Karamanlis is already in the secluded resort where talks are deadlocked despite six weeks of intense negotiation.