New York, United States. The United Nations Security Council’s vote on whether to extend the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) for another year has been delayed until Friday.
The vote had been initially foreseen for Thursday at 3pm New York time, 10pm Cyprus time, but has been postponed by one day.
Mandate renewal timeline
Unficyp has a rolling one-year mandate which was most recently extended on January 31 last year, with all 15 Security Council members at the time, including guarantor powers Greece and the United Kingdom, voting in favour of the motion, which also took stock of the state of the Cyprus problem.
Somalia’s UN envoy sees no issues
Ahead of the vote, Abukar Dahir Osman, Somalia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said no problems are foreseen regarding the renewal of Unficyp’s mandate.
“I do not think there will be any problem. The security council continues to support the secretary-general [Antonio Guterres]’ good offices and remains committed to an approach based on dialogue and de-escalation,” he told the Cyprus News Agency.
He added that the Security Council “has consistently called for dialogue, restraint and a peaceful, negotiated settlement within the framework of the United Nations”.
Buffer zone and confidence-building measures
Osman stressed the importance of “respecting the existing regime in the buffer zone” separating Cyprus’ two sides and described Unficyp’s role as “stabilising”.
He also called for “de-escalation initiatives” and “confidence-building measures which reduce tensions”.
Context of talks on the Cyprus problem
The vote follows reports that Guterres has been “seriously disturbed” by the lack of progress on the Cyprus problem since last month’s tripartite meeting involving his envoy Maria Angela Holguin, President Nikos Christodoulides, and Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman.
Holguin, Christodoulides, and Erhurman held another tripartite meeting on Wednesday, with Holguin having said before that meeting that “not much progress” had been achieved on confidence-building measures since her previous visit to the island.
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