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New UN special envoy flies in to prepare Cyprus peace push
Larnaca, Cyprus (AFP) July 27, 2008 Newly-appointed UN special envoy Alexander Downer arrived on Sunday for contacts with rival Cypriot leaders ahead of a September process aimed at reunifying the Mediterranean island. "All of us at the UN are looking forward to helping in any way we can with the process that, as the secretary general (Ban Ki-moon) pointed out, made an important step forward on Friday," Downer told reporters at Larnaca airport. "We have been very pleased to see that, and the secretary general was delighted to see that," he added. On Friday, President Demetris Christofias, the Greek Cypriot leader, and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat set September 3 as the date to begin direct negotiations on ending the island's 34-year-old division. Downer, the 56-year-old former Australian foreign minister, is making his first trip to the island since being appointed as UN special advisor for Cyprus on July 12. He is tasked with succeeding where many have failed before him -- navigating both sides towards a long elusive peace deal. Downer is to criss-cross the UN-controlled ceasefire line to hold separate meetings with Christofias and Talat on Tuesday before leaving the next day. He is expected to return to launch the much-anticipated talks in early September. An opinion poll published in the Greek Cypriot daily Politis on Sunday showed that 75 percent of Greek Cypriots were in favour of direct reunification talks and solidly behind Christofias. The United Nations, European Union, Washington and London have hailed the decision to revive peace negotiations and pledged full support for the reunification talks. In February, Christofias was elected president on a platform of reviving reunification talks which went nowhere under his hardline predecessor Tassos Papadopoulos. An agreement between Christofias and Talat, both regarded by the international community as "pro-settlement," is seen as the best chance for peace since a UN reunification blueprint failed in April 2004. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkish mainland troops occupied the island's northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Share This Article With Planet Earth
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UN urges aid for Tajikistan as winter crisis worsens
Dushanbe (AFP) Feb 18, 2008The United Nations appealed for urgent humanitarian aid for Tajikistan on Monday, saying that 260,000 people needed food aid after extreme cold knocked out electricity supplies. |
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