Downer and Elders to tell leaders to pull their socks up

UN Special Envoy Alexander Downer, who arrived on the island today, has said that everyone was hopeful and that he himself was cautiously optimistic about the Cyprus problem. Downer who flew in from Brussels where he met EU Commissioner Olli Rehn yesterday, will leave at the weekend for London where he will have contacts with the British government.

The Cyprus Mail quotes sources close to the process as saying that Downer is expected to give the two leaders a pep talk when he joins them in their next meeting on Friday. Although the language is couched diplomatically, the bottom line is that the UN is unhappy with the pace of the talks and with the counterproductive statements both leaders are making through the media. He is expected to give Christofias and Talat “his impressions of where the talks are at, and where they are going”, to ask them to stop talking to each other through the media and to refrain from making inflammatory speeches at international fora. A UN request for more frequent meetings could also be on the cards.

“Mr Downer is expected to explore with the leaders how he can be more helpful to them and how he can be more active,” said the sources, but that nothing would be done without their approval as both sides have an aversion to any sort of arbitration from the UN or other foreign mediators.It is understood that the UN would also like to see more of the issues being handed over to the aides to the two leaders, Presidential Commissioner George Iacovou, and Ozdil Nami, the advisor to Talat as this could speed up the pace of the negotiations.

In addition three of the twelve Elders arrived in Cyprus today to give a boost to the flagging Cyprus talks and to encourage the leaders by lending their weighty support to the process. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former US President Jimmy Carter and former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi will today and tomorrow meet political leaders, civil society representatives and young people from the island's Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot communities.

The Elders are to urge the international community to embrace the fact that a lasting settlement is within reach in Cyprus, and actively to support the leaders and the peace process. They also want to commend Christofias and Talat for their efforts to reunify the island. But they have emphasised that they would not be involved in the negotiations. "We are here to say that the world wants this island to find peace – we wish it with all our hearts. We encourage all Cypriots to look forward to the potential benefits that a peaceful resolution can bring. And we want to make sure that the current efforts of the Cypriot leaders to reach a lasting settlement are fully supported by the international community,” said Elders chairman Archbishop Tutu.

A written statement said The Elders were looking forward to their first meeting, which will be a discussion with young people from the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. "Today's young people are the ones who will live with the outcome of their leaders' work. The first time in their lives that they will cast a ballot may even be to vote on the outcome of the current peace process. I hope that day is not far off. I am all too aware of the many years it has taken to get to this point,” President Carter said.

Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reported that only one third of the issues related to governance and power sharing have been agreed the two leaders after three meetings of talks. Under the headline: “It’s going badly,” the newspaper leaked that they were only able to agree on seven out of 20 aspects on governance and power sharing. One of the four core issues that need to be resolved, governance was supposed to be the easiest to negotiate. Discussion on 11 of the points was temporarily postponed and on the two remaining points, the leaders were said to be in complete disagreement, according to the information.

The seven chapters agreed include citizenship and asylum, extradition and deportation, drugs smuggling, money laundering and organised crime, appointment of federal officials, copyright, and elections and referenda. The two issues they did not agree on were the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and antiquities. The former is likely related to disagreement over the possible oil and gas reserves off the island’s south-eastern coastline. The 11 postponed chapters include foreign relations and international agreements with defence policies, EU relations, Central Bank Functions, the financial and banking sectors, aviation, post office, electronic communication, transportation and natural resources.