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1. Turkey objects to UN Cyprus mission extension
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press
2009-05-30 06:52 AM
Over Turkish objections, the U.N. Security Council extended the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Cyprus on Friday and urged stepped-up negotiations to reunify the war-divided Mediterranean island.
Turkey's U.N. Ambassador Baki Ilkin said he voted against the resolution because it refers to "the government of Cyprus," which has included only Greek Cypriots since 1963 after violence between the island's ethnic Greeks and Turks.
Source: Taiwan News
2. UN extends Cyprus peacekeeping mandate for half year
UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The UN Security Council on Friday extended its Cyprus peacekeeping mandate for another six months through Dec. 15, 2009 as Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders on the divided Mediterranean island continue their unification negotiations.
The 15-member Security Council had 14 votes in favor of extending the mandate for the mission in Cyprus. Turkey, a non-permanent member of the Council, voted against the resolution.
In the resolution, the Council expressed its full support for the United Nations Peacekeeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), calling on both sides to continue to engage in consultations with the UNFICYP on the demarcation of the buffer zone and others.
The Cypriot Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou said on Wednesday that his country needs the UNFICYP to stay to provide security till a final solution of the decades-long Cyprus problem.
In a recent report to the UN Security Council, Ban said that the UNFICYP continues to play "a vital and unique role" on the island, both as a stabilizing factor on the ground and as a source of substantive and administrative support for UN good offices mission. Source: Xinhuanet
