New York, United States. The United Nations Security Council will deliberate the next reports on the state of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus and its good offices on the island on July 16, according to reports on Thursday. The reports by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are expected to be submitted early next month ahead of a closed-door session.
Reports due before July meeting
The Cyprus News Agency reported that both reports are expected to be submitted early next month before the Security Council meets behind closed doors on July 16 to deliberate them.
When Unficyp’s rolling one-year mandate was renewed in January, the Security Council requested that Guterres submit his next reports by July 6 and that they focus in particular on progress towards reaching a consensus starting point for meaningful results-oriented negotiations leading to a settlement.
Security Council briefing expected
In advance of next month’s meeting, Unficyp chief Khassim Diagne is expected to brief members of the Security Council on the latest developments on the island.
Guterres’ most recent reports were submitted in January. He wrote at the time that “the intensification of dialogue and the engagement of the United Nations” with the island’s two sides and its three guarantor powers, Greece, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, “continued” in the second half of last year.
Reference to Turkish Cypriot leadership election
Guterres also referred to the election of Tufan Erhurman as Turkish Cypriot leader last October, writing that Erhurman won “with a large majority” after campaigning on “a platform of overcoming political and social divisions within the Turkish Cypriot community and returning to talks on the basis of a federal solution”.
New diplomatic contacts under way
Almost six months later, efforts are under way as part of what has been described as a “new initiative” being undertaken with the United Nations aimed at resuming formal negotiations.
In line with this effort, UN envoy Maria Angela Holguin visited the island earlier this month and met both Erhurman and President Nikos Christodoulides twice. She then travelled to Ankara and Athens, where she met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis.
Holguin is now in New York and is expected to discuss progress on Cyprus with Guterres in the coming days, likely after his return to New York from London.
Following those talks, she is expected to return to Europe for meetings in Brussels with European Council President Antonio Costa and possibly other figures, before travelling again to Cyprus for further meetings with Christodoulides and Erhurman.