UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that considerable progress has been achieved in the Cyprus UN peace talks in his report to the Security Council.
Ban recommended to the Council to extend the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces in Cyprus mission for six months, until 15 June 2010 and added that the two sides have not yet considered in depth the role which the UN would be expected to play in support of a settlement.
On the UN-led direct talks for a Cyprus solution, Ban Ki-moon points out that “although considerable progress has been achieved in the Cyprus talks, the two sides have not yet considered in depth the role which the UN would be expected to play in support of a settlement”.’
In addition, he says it is “too early to be able to identify with sufficient confidence the parameters of the UN involvement in the context of a possible solution.
At the same time”, he adds, “UNFICYP has initiated preparatory activities, based on a range of possible outcomes and scenarios, in the framework of contingency planning as requested by the Council. For the time being, such planning will continue to proceed in a flexible manner and be guided by the evolution in the talks and the views of the parties on the role they would like the UN to play in the implementation of an agreement”.
Ban underlines that “it is my firm belief that UNFICYP continues to play a vital and unique role on the island, including in support of my good offices mission” and recommends to the Security Council to extend the mandate of the mission for six months, until 15 June 2010.
The report notes that both communities continued to rely on UNFICYP’s civilian assistance, which ranges from humanitarian and economic matters to a variety of bicommunal issues affecting the lives of Cypriots.
It commends both sides for reaching an agreement on opening the Limnitis crossing and calls for urgent implementation of stage two of the restoration at the Ledra Street crossing.