Cyprus: Security Council members urge ‘spirit of compromise’ during talks

Members of the United Nations Security Council today urged both leaders holding negotiations on Cyprus to approach the resumption of talks on Friday “in a spirit of compromise and with a sense of urgency and political determination, so as to narrow the differences between them,” according to the President of the 15-member body.

“The members of the Council share the view expressed by each of the two leaders that it should be the objective to reach agreement by June and that this objective is a feasible one,” Ambassador Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico told reporters following closed-door consultations on Cyprus.

The Council President also reaffirmed the views expressed by the Council before the start of the series of direct meetings, which ran from 16 January to 19 February in Nicosia.

Council members “welcomed the commencement of regular negotiating sessions under the auspices of the Secretary-General, pursuant to the agreement reached by the two leaders on 4 December 2001; and the engagement in substantive discussions to achieve a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem,” he said. “They reiterated their full support for the Secretary-General’s mission of good offices entrusted to him by the Council in Security Council resolution 1250.”

During their consultations, Council members were briefed by Alvaro de Soto, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus.