CYPRUS: With only one more week to secure an agreement to reunify Cyprus in a Swiss-style federation, UN mediator Mr Alvaro de Soto, will today begin separate negotiations with the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, writes Michael Jansen in Nicosia
According to a UN spokes- man, Mr Brian Kelly, Mr de Soto believes it will be more profitable to formulate "trade-offs" on core issues in proximity talks than to waste time in face-to-face encounters where Cyprus President Mr Tassos Papadopoulos and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, routinely reject each other's proposals.
Following meetings in Athens yesterday, Greece's new Prime Minister, Mr Costas Karamanlis, expressed full backing for Mr Papadopoulos, and pledged to support him in the search for a Cyprus settlement.
The Turkish Premier, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has repeatedly criticised Mr Denktash's positions, and warned him not to jeopardise Turkey's EU accession by obstructing a deal over Cyprus.
If the sides do not reach consensus on the UN plan, Greek and Turkish envoys will meet with the Cypriot leaders and the UN secretary general, Mr Kofi Annan, in Switzerland on March 24th to finalise the plan. If they fail, Mr Annan will "fill in the blanks", and submit the plan to referenda on April 20th.
Although the leaders remain far apart, technical committees comprised of foreign experts and Greek and Turkish Cypriots have achieved considerable progress in behind-the-scenes meetings.
Mr Robert Dann, special adviser to Mr de Soto, said on Saturday that the "two sides are working together constructively to finalise the UN plan", and are "not trying to gain points".
The committees have been working round the clock to draft common legislation, select sites for federal facilities and identify personnel for the proposed United Cyprus Republic. They have finalised 50 of 118 laws, and developed proposals for implementing the economic and financial aspects of the plan.
A committee charged with selecting a flag for the federation has chosen a design from amongst 1,506 entries in a competition.