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4.5

Cyprus

Over the decades, negotiations between the leaders of the two sides have had limited suc- UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) cess. A large-scale effort launched by the UN Secretary-General in 1999 led to the resump- • Authorization and 4 March 1964 (UNSC Res. 186) tion of face-to-face peace talks in December Start Date 2001. But the process came to an abrupt end in •SRSG Tayé-Brook Zerihoun (Ethiopia) • Force Commander RearAdmiral Mario César Sánchez April 2004 when an ambitious UN reunifica- Debernardi (Peru) tion plan was rejected in a referendum by the • Budget $56.5 million Greek Cypriot population, even as the Turkish (1 July 2008–30 June 2009) Cypriot population gave it their support. •Strengthasof Troops:858 In 2003, the first crossing point between 31October2008 Police:69 the north and south was opened. Since then, International Civilian Staff: 39 seven more have followed, including, on 3 April Local Civilian Staff: 105 2008, the crossing point at Ledra Street, Ni- For detailed mission information see p. 270 cosia’s main thoroughfare. The opening of the Ledra Street crossing represented a significant breakthrough: after forty-four years of closure, During 2008, the resumption of reunifica- it is now used by thousands of people on a daily tion talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriots basis. and the opening of several key crossing points Progress on the political front accelerated between the two communities were encourag- after February 2008 elections in the Republic of ing signs of progress in Cyprus after forty-four Cyprus brought to power Demetris Christofias, years of division. Officials from the UN Peace- who immediately reached out to the Turkish keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) have nev- Cypriots and their leader, Mehmet Ali Talat. ertheless stressed the need for continued patience Three weeks after Christofias’s inauguration, the and commitment in order to allow negotiations two men met in the presence of the new Special between the parties to progress toward a com- Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), prehensive settlement and the eventual reunifi- Tayé-Brook Zerihoun, and agreed on a path to- cation of the island. ward a comprehensive settlement. In May, the UNFICYP was initially established in 1964 two leaders committed to a partnership that will with a mandate to prevent violence between the comprise a federal government with a single in- Greek and Turkish Cypriots in the north. In 1974, ternational identity, along with a Turkish Cypriot renewed fighting led to a UN-brokered cease- constituent state and a Greek Cypriot constituent fire and an expansion of UNFICYP’s mandate to state, which will be of equal status. In July, the include cease-fire monitoring and administra- UN Secretary-General appointed the former for- tion of the buffer zone between the Cyprus Na- eign minister of Australia, Alexander Downer, tional Guard and the Turkish Cypriot forces. as his Special Adviser on Cyprus. Since that time, UNFICYP’s mandate has con- Full-fledged talks on reunification began sistently been renewed on a six-month basis. in September 2008 under UN sponsorship and

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with the support of UNFICYP. In October, as of power-sharing and property rights—public they addressed issues related to the powers of opinion polls showed diminished optimism on the federal government, Christofias and Talat both sides for the prospects of reunification. agreed to meet on a weekly basis to maintain Nevertheless, with strong political commitments the momentum of the process. As talks con- on both sides, prospects for a reunited Cyprus tinued through the end of the year and grew looked increasingly realistic. more substantive—addressing complex issues