Security Council approves 6-month extension for UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus

The Security Council today extended the long-running United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) until 31 July 2014, noting that progress made so far had not yet resulted in a comprehensive and durable settlement between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides.

Unanimously adopting a new resolution, the Council urged the two sides to implement confidence-building measures, saying it looked forward to agreement on and implementation of further steps, including military confidence-building measures and the opening of other crossing points on the Green Line.

The force has been deployed on the island since 1964, when inter-communal fighting erupted.

The UN has been facilitating talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leadership, with a view to the eventual establishment of a federal government with a single international personality, consisting of a Turkish Cypriot Constituent State and a Greek Cypriot Constituent State, each of equal status.

Further by the text, Council called on both sides to continue to engage, as a matter of urgency and while respecting UNFICYP’s mandate, in consultations with the mission on the demarcation of the buffer zone between them, and on the 1989 UN aide-memoire, with a view to reaching early agreement on outstanding issues. The Council also called on the Turkish Cypriot side and Turkish forces to restore the military status quo existing in Strovilia before 30 June 2000.