Leaders meet more frequently

Talks between Christofias and Talat resumed yesterday with the leaders agreeing to meet on a weekly basis from now on. According to the Cyprus Mail, the move to meet more regularly came after murmurings from the UN that the process was not going fast enough.

UN Special Envoy Alexander Downer made a brief statement after yesterday’s meeting saying it had been a productive encounter. He said they had continued to discuss power sharing and governance, on which they made progress, and also began discussions about the structure of the federal executive, on which they each made proposals. Their next meeting was set for Monday when these discussions will continue. Working groups, representatives and experts will meet according to the instructions of the leaders as needed,” he added.

“I think it is, from my point of view, very important that the leaders be given plenty of space in order to continue their work, and it is important that all commentators in the media bear this in mind. This is a very important negotiation for the future of Cyprus and the leaders will need a lot of space in order to conduct those negotiations”, Downer said.Asked to comment on why the meetings were upped to one a week, Downer said there had not been meetings in recent weeks for one reason or another, and both leaders did want to meet on a weekly basis to keep the momentum of the process going.

Speaking after a meeting with Christofias the previous day, Downer had said that it is important for everybody to look to the future and to make the negotiations a success but achieving success would require great acts of statesmanship. He said he hoped the UN was being helpful and would continue to assist the leaders in achieving their set objectives. “It's clear what they ultimately want to achieve, they want to achieve a peace settlement,” he said.

Speaking on his return to the Presidential Palace after the meeting, Christofias said he was “generally satisfied” but would not elaborate other than to say that Downer's statements expressed both their views. He did say, however, that he and Talat had a friendly discussion and they would have more tête-à-têtes. “There have been three meetings so far. I don’t think we should give the message that the Cyprus problem should have been solved by now”, he said. He said there were five or six very important aspects of the problem on which the two communities have conflicting views. “This is clear. Therefore, we more than anybody else, but also you, must be patient,” he said. “We shall have progress which might not be so quick or at a great speed. So long as we have progress. Today, we have made one or two steps which concern the powers of the central government,” he added.

Meanwhile the three Elders visiting Cyprus left yesterday convinced that the two leaders were on the verge of an agreement.

Speaking at a news conference, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said The Elders considered this time to be a unique moment in history for Cyprus with two “relatively young, courageous and charismatic” leaders that were determined to find a solution. “They have so much going for them,” he said. “We want to say go for it. I’m not as young as I look. I want to come back here and celebrate with all of you.”

“We come really not as nosey old men – well I am,” said Tutu. “We have come to encourage. They (the leaders) have the capacity to tell their people: ‘It’s okay, let’s go in faith, stretch out a hand to our sisters and brothers of the other community’. We told them that success in South Africa came not because people grabbed everything and got all they wanted. Success came because the leaders were prepared to make concessions…to make compromises…not to say ‘we have a bottom line, it’s all or nothing’.”

Former Algerian Foreign Minister Lakhdar Brahimi said he could not stress enough what the Archbishop said about moments in history. “In South Africa miracles happened every day,” he said. “We have the impression that a moment like that is on hand for Cyprus.”

Tutu said that in South Africa neither Nelson Mandela, nor Frederik de Klerk could have acted alone. “Each on his own would not have accomplished what was accomplished together,” he said. “They were able to accomplish what turned out to be an epoch-making step.”

Former US President Jimmy Carter said a lot could be done to break down the barriers. “In negotiations I’ve been involved in there had to be compromises, and in each case the compromise was less important than the goal.”

Tutu also said if the leaders miss this opportunity their children and grandchildren would ask why.“Failure is not an option because if it were to happen it would set things back very, very considerably,” he said. “I hope they don’t disappoint us old men as well. We live in a world where there is a great deal of evil but there is a great deal of good as well. Look here. Maybe you could give the world something to smile about. You’ve got the capacity,” he added.

Carter said he didn’t see failure ahead. “I would say it’s not difficult to solve. I see clearly in mind that we are on the verge of seeing an agreement here with all the people wanting peace and I think it’s quite likely we will have success here,” he said. If not, then he didn’t see anything worse than a continuation of the status quo. “We didn’t come here to tell people we are know-it-alls. We came to say you are doing a splendid job and carry on to the consummation we can see on the horizon,” he added.

Tutu did warn that “the truth does not automatically heal. It can exacerbate and make worse the anguish. You want a process based on restorative, not retributive justice…not seeking to punish but to use the process for therapeutic healing.” He said the past was important but people should not be held hostage by it. “You have to deal with it at some point,” he added.