Eide: No “immediate developments” on the island

UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus Espen Barth Eide has said that the situation as it stands after the Conference on Cyprus, in Crans-Montana, Switzerland which ended without a positive conclusion, is “complicated”, adding that he has not seen any immediate developments.

In statements to the press after two separate meetings with President Mustafa Akinci and the Greek Cypriot Leader Nikos Anastasiades, Eide also said that one of his remaining duties while on the island will be to write “a thorough and honest report, a fair report.” Responding to questions over what went wrong in Crans-Montana, he said “we were inching closer on substance but we didn’t feel that we had the same developments when it came to the overall sense of trust and readiness.”

He expressed the UN’s hope “that we will be able to continue on existing UN parameters which is what the UN is dedicated to, but of course at the end of the day that requires a willingness from both sides”. That, according to the UN envoy has to do with substance, but it also has to do with trust and a genuine desire to tackle this last mile.

“I have not heard anything here that suggests something will happen in the very near future”, Eide said, adding “I think there is a cool-off phase that is going on now. And I think it is difficult to make any statements beyond that,” he added.

Eide reiterated the UN’s commitment to be supportive. “The Secretary General has made it very clear that whenever we can be helpful, we will be there and be helpful” he said. But of course, he added, “there is no process if the sides don’t see it as a process.”

He said that part of his duty and his mission on behalf of the UN SG on the island today is “to talk to both sides and to try to make up my mind and to report to him whether there are steps that could be taken from our side, whether the sides are ready to take any steps and in that case, what steps.”

President Akıncı made no statement to the press prior to and after the meeting.