UN’s Lacroix to visit Cyprus

United Nations undersecretary-general for peace operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix will arrive in Cyprus on Sunday for a six-day visit to the island.

During his stay on the island, it is expected that he will meet officials from both its major communities, and discuss both the current situation on the ground and the role of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus (Unficyp) in maintaining stability.

He is also expected to hold meetings with members of the diplomatic corps in Cyprus and Unficyp’s leadership.

The planned visit comes at the end of a week in which fears of heightened tensions arose in the buffer zone village of Pyla, which is located between Larnaca and Famagusta, with a line of Turkish tanks being spotted in the area.

Unficyp spokesman Aleem Siddique confirmed to the Cyprus Mail that the tanks were at all times located “north of the northern ceasefire line”, and as such not in the buffer zone, before later confirming that they had departed.

Given Pyla and nearby Pergamos’ proximity to the United Kingdom’s Dhekelia base, British vehicles also deployed to the area, though British bases spokeswoman Korina Orphanides told the Cyprus Mail that vehicles had been deployed only as a precaution and “took no action”, thus indicating that the tanks were also located outside the base.

Earlier, Siddique had confirmed that there are “no military assets inside the buffer zone”, and that reports that a Turkish flag had been planted in the buffer zone also did not correspond to reality. The flag, he said, is located in the north.

Meanwhile, news website Kibris Postasi quoted military sources as having said that the tanks had been deployed because “the Greek Cypriot authorities attempted to facilitate illegal crossings”, possibly of veterinarians, into the buffer zone near Pyla, “citing an outbreak of foot and mouth disease on the Greek Cypriot side”.

As such, the sources said, measures were taken to bolster the Turkish Cypriot security presence in the area.