Alvaro de Soto, UN special adviser of Secretary General Kofi Annan, is expected to leave Cyprus on Wednesday, returning to New York, after over four years of efforts to reach a negotiated settlement that would reunite the island.
De Soto is due to fly from Nicosia's international airport, [now under UN control], by helicopter to the RAF British Base of Akrotiri and from then on aboard a UN aircraft he is due to fly to Turkey and Athens to bid farewell to his former interlocutors in the Cyprus peace effort.
According to the official Cyprus News Agency, the Peruvian diplomat leaves Cyprus after the failure of the latest attempt to reunite the island.
The agency added that Greek Cypriots voted in their overwhelming majority (76 per cent) against a UN plan for a political settlement (the "Annan plan"). Turkish Cypriots voted in favour of the plan (65 per cent).
In Ankara, he will meet Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and possibly Ugur Ziyal, foreign ministry under-secretary, CNA added.
The UN top official will be in Athens on Thursday night and the day after he will meet Premier Costas Karamanlis and Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
