Security Council approves 6-month extension for UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus
In a unanimously adopted resolution, Council members urged both sides to further implement confidence-building measures and move towards the establishment of “mutually-acceptable steps,” including military confidence-building measures and the opening of crossing points that, they added, could potentially “contribute to a conducive environment for a settlement.”
UNFICYP has been deployed on the Mediterranean island since 1964, when inter-communal fighting erupted.
Since then, the UN has also 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.
In addition, the 15-member Council called on the leaders of both communities to “put their efforts behind further work on reaching convergences on the core issues” and improve the public atmosphere for negotiations.