DiCarlo to convey UNSG’s commitment to overcoming impasse

Rosemary DiCarlo, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, will convey the UNSG’s commitment to finding a way out of the impasse in efforts to solve the Cyprus problem during her visit to Cyprus next week.

Citing a diplomatic source from within the UN, the Cyprus News Agency reported on Thursday that Di Carlo will hold separate meetings with President Nikos Christodoulides and the Turkish Cypriot leader, Ersin Tatar, and encourage the two sides to find common ground to resume negotiations.

"Since 2021 we are at an impasse. We expect the idea of ​​the Secretary-General to delegate the tasks to high-ranking officials of the Secretariat, without them being an envoy, to have positive results. The separate meetings will be held in an effort for DiCarlo to understand if the positions of the two sides can converge somewhere. We are still at an exploratory stage," the source told CNA.

While in Cyprus, DiCarlo will also meet with members of civil society, women and members of the youth, and pay a visit to the Laboratory of the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP).

The initial CMP list of missing persons included 2,002 people and excavation works started in 2006. According to a diplomatic source, CMP is carrying out excavations in several places on the island recently, but was unable to locate any remains. "Which means that there is no correct information about the areas that need to be excavated and those who know need to be encouraged” to come forward, the same source said, adding that “for this reason it is good that DiCarlo will pay a visit to the place”.

Finally, the Under-Secretary-General will visit the UN controlled Buffer Zone that divides Cyprus. The schedule of her trip, which is being prepared by UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Cyprus, Colin Stewart, is not final yet.

Speaking about DiCarlo's visit to Cyprus, the Permanent Representative of Cyprus to the UN, Ambassador Andreas Hadjichrysanthou, told CNA that "this is a good move and we welcome it. We are optimistic that DiCarlo will find common ground and look to the UN Secretary General to remain active and push for the opening of negotiations”.

“What we are still waiting for is to arrange a bilateral meeting between President Nikos Christodoulides and the UN Secretary-General on the sidelines of the European Council on March 23 in Brussels," the Ambassador noted.

On Thursday, President Christodoulides is meeting with the UN SG Special Representative in Cyprus, Colin Stewart, to prepare ahead of DiCarlo’s visit.

(Source: CNA)