Senior UN official to visit Nicosia

A high-ranking UN official is expected to visit Cyprus at the end of next week to review the peacekeeping mission after the fallout from the Pyla buffer zone dispute.

According to CNA, Nicosia has been informed about the forthcoming visit of UN peacekeeping chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix and more details are expected during the next few days.

The official is expected to hold separate meetings during his visit with President Nikos Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar.

The visit was scheduled for October but was delayed until the beginning of November.

President Christodoulides had a conversation on the sidelines of the Cairo Peace Summit with the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo.

He welcomed Guterres’ commitment to proceed with the appointment of a personality who will look into the prospects for the resumption of the talks.

Lacroix, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations, will survey the general situation with UNFICYP (United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus) and in Pyla, as defined by the agreement of coexistence.

In August, Lacroix met Defence Minister Michalis Georgallas in Toledo, Spain, where they discussed the situation in Pyla.

The official conveyed the UN’s approval of how the Cypriot government handled the Pyla issue, where Turkish Cypriots confronted UN peacekeepers.