Efforts to remove the fence across the Green Line will begin on January 9, it was reported on Friday.

Deputy Migration Minister Nicholas Ioannides informed cabinet on Wednesday that the contentious barbed wire will be removed from the buffer zone next month, according to Philenews.

The public works department and national guard will begin removing it, and any remaining parts of the fence will be handed to the national guard and police.

The 14km fence from Kokkinotrimithia to Astromeritis was placed along the buffer zone at the behest of former Interior Minister Nicos Nouris in 2022. His aim was to cut off migration flows but the fence was found to have been ineffectual.

Earlier this year, member of the Avlona community council Haris Loizou said the fence stretching across the Green Line served absolutely no purpose.

Unficyp has raised objections over the matter and urged the government to take action and remove it.

Loizou said the fence is ‘useful’ for about two minutes.

“It prevents someone from crossing for about two minutes.” After that time is up, anyone can easily cross, he said.

The government has been saying since the summer that the political decision to remove it has been taken but it could not be acted upon until a cabinet decision.

Though a cabinet decision came in October, the fence remains in place. The Cyprus Greens on Thursday called it a death trap for animals.