Top UN peacekeeping official to tour Green Line

The head of UN Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix is on a four-day working visit to Cyprus to monitor the Blue Berets patrolling the island’s divide.

UN Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, said Lacroix would visit Cyprus from Thursday after wrapping up his trip to Russia.

During his four-day visit, Lacroix will meet with representatives of the two communities on the island.

Lacroix’s visit comes as the UN seeks to find common ground between the sides for another summit to restart stalled UN-sponsored Cyprus talks.

The UN official is also scheduled to meet Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus and Head of the Mission, Elizabeth Spehar, and Mission personnel.

He will visit various key locations where UN peacekeepers are deployed along the buffer zone.

Helping maintain security on the island is one of the UN’s longest-running peacekeeping missions: the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).

It was established in 1964 to prevent further fighting between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities and bring about a return to normal conditions.

The current Force Commander is Major General Ingrid Gjerde of Norway.

The mission’s responsibilities have expanded since the 1974 coup and subsequent Turkish invasion of the island’s northern third.

Since a de facto ceasefire in August 1974, UNFICYP has supervised ceasefire lines, provided humanitarian assistance and maintained a buffer zone between the Turkish and Turkish Cypriot forces in the north and the Greek Cypriot forces in the south.

Ceasefire lines extend over 180 kilometres across the island.

UNFICYP’s 800-plus troops and 60-plus police officers deal with hundreds of incidents each year in the absence of a formal ceasefire agreement.

UNFICYP’s mandate comes up for renewal every six months before the UN Security Council.