Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-08-26

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Sunday, August 26, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] Police hunt four in gangland bombs case

[02] Denktash stresses equality before meeting Annan

[03] Three remanded after police find drugs

[04] Afghan Peace Conference meets in Nicosia

[05] Akrotiri mast talks 'nearly concluded'

[06] Ceasefire line walk in memory of the fallen

[07] Toxic chemical leak in Limassol

[08] Man stabbed in the neck

[01] Police hunt four in gangland bombs case

The Nicosia District Court yesterday remanded the officer, Savvas Sudjis, for another eight days.

Case investigator Savvas Iatropoulos told the court that police had recovered a total of 134 weapons and amounts of explosives since Sudjis was arrested early this month. He said 100 of these items of prosecution evidence had been stolen from National Guard stores.

Iatropoulos stated that forensics experts had now identified the fingerprints of four other persons on the stolen guns and explosives. The investigator told the court that police were trying to track down the four men, believing them to be Sudjis' accomplices.

Sudjis, 47, was arrested after bombing suspect Fanos Mahattou, 42, named him as being involved in several bombings.

The infantry officer, from Larnaca, and Mahattou, from Ayia Napa, are suspected of involvement in two bomb attacks, of illegal possession of explosives, and of conspiring to commit offences. The two men are thought to be linked to a series of unsolved bomb attacks and other serious crimes. Iatropoulos heads a special police team charged with investigating unsolved serious crimes.

Iatropoulos said yesterday 150 statements had already been taken in connection with the case, and between 50 and 100 more people were still to be questioned.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Denktash stresses equality before meeting Annan

"The criteria for the resumption of talks are very clear," Denktash told Reuters in an interview.

"We want to be treated as an equal, not to be ignored, not to be told what to do by others for, or on behalf of, the Greek Cypriots who are alleged to be the government of Cyprus."

Denktash said he would meet the European Union's Enlargement Commissioner Gunther Verheugen briefly in Zurich tomorrow on his way to Salzburg, in Austria, where he is scheduled to meet Annan to look into ways of reviving stalled peace talks.

The Turkish Cypriot leader has boycotted the UN-mediated proximity talks since November, digging in his heels on his demand to be treated on a par with Clerides.

"I have been invited by the Secretary-general. Naturally I will listen to what he has to say. No doubt he is interested in the resumption of talks, as we are," Denktash said.

The proximity talks were intended to pave the way for reunification of the island's Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities under a federal umbrella, although Denktash favours a loose confederation.

A solution to the island's decades-old division has become increasingly urgent as Cyprus edges closer towards joining the EU -- something Denktash strongly opposes.

He said he was meeting Verheugen at the EU commissioner's request and would use the talks to reiterate Turkish Cypriot opposition to Cyprus entering the union.

"It is a Greek Cypriot application and it cannot be treated as a proper application by Cyprus as a whole," said Denktash.

"We are saying acknowledge realities... And when you acknowledge existing realities truthfully, you will come to the conclusion the Greek Cypriots are not the government of the whole land. Because there is another government... there is a northern Cyprus," the Turkish Cypriot leader said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Three remanded after police find drugs

Larnaca District Court remanded a 30-year-old woman from Yugoslavia and a 32-year-old from Britain for eight days and a 28-year-old Cypriot national for four days on suspicion of possession and intent to supply the class-A drug.

Police stopped to question the Yugoslav as she was driving along Nissi Avenue in central Ayia Napa at around 7.50pm on Friday.

Officers searched the car and arrested her after they say they found a stash of 400 tablets believed to be Ecstasy stuffed in four nylon sacks.

On turning up at her Ayia Napa apartment, officers found the Briton, who the Yugoslav accused of supplying the tablets, and another 12 tablets believed to be Ecstasy.

As officers left the building, they bumped into the Cypriot, staying with the Yugoslav, and allegedly found him in possession of four grammes of cannabis.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Afghan Peace Conference meets in Nicosia

THE International Conference for Peace for Afghanistan is again taking place in Nicosia this weekend, drawing delegates from all over the world in a continuing bid to liberate Afghanistan from civil war and bring peace, unity and democracy in place of extremist Taliban rule.

The organisation, set up in 1999, reflects the ethnic diversity of Afghan society and works inside and outside the country to improve relations and promote democracy.

Yesterday the talks focused on administrative matters and the second round of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva on September 10-12, to which delegates from the movement have been invited, along with Germany, Italy, Iran and the US.

Still in its infancy, the movement is trying to establish special committees to take responsibility for specific issues such as publicity, finance and fundraising.

The movement, which includes former members of the Afghan government, Taliban sympathisers, NATO diplomats, scholars and tribal leaders, draws on support from Afghan individuals and international funds.

Its members are hoping to attract sponsorship from the UN and the US.

One of the organisation's fundamental aims is to establish a Grand National Assembly, of about 400 to 500 delegates - in an effort to democratise the ravaged nation.

It also on a mission to disseminate certain fundamental principles of common behaviour throughout the warring factions in order to find a stable footing on which concrete negotiations can begin.

Speaking on behalf of the movement yesterday, Professor Quadir Amiryar from George Washington University thanked the government for allowing the conference to meet in Cyprus - chosen as a host because it too is a divided country.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Akrotiri mast talks 'nearly concluded'

Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou said yesterday a joint announcement on the issue would be released early this week after the negotiations had finished. The talks between delegations from the two governments, focusing on the possible environmental impact of the new mast, were being conducted in a “good climate”, Papapetrou told state radio CyBC.

Akrotiri residents and local greens claim electromagnetic emissions from the giant new mast could give them cancer and harm salt lake wildlife. Britain insists the installation, due to go up in 2003, is completely safe.

On July 3, Cypriot rioters targeted the bases police station at Episkopi and the Akrotiri mast site after DIKO deputy Marios Matsakis was arrested as he tried to break into the salt lake listening site to protest against the start of groundwork on the new antenna.

Both London and Nicosia condemned the riots, which left more than 50 people injured, but work on the new mast was put on hold to allow room for negotiations on the issue.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Ceasefire line walk in memory of the fallen

DIKO deputy Marios Matsakis led the demonstration in memory of Greek Cypriots who lost their lives in the second phase of the 1974 Turkish invasion.

At 6.30am five other marchers and two vehicles met Matsakis. The party set off on foot at around 6.45am.

Matsakis arrived at Mia Milia with two others at about 2.15pm, where a camera crew and a handful of other demonstrators greeted him.

Matsakis said on Friday that his march would cross into the buffer zone because it followed the National Guard Ceasefire Line - different to the demarcation zones marked out by the UN.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] Toxic chemical leak in Limassol

The leak of the volatile chemical occurred at around 7.30am at the storage depot of the Lanitis fruit juice firm next to the town's mediaeval castle. The fire brigade and police rushed to the scene and quickly cordoned off the area around the depot while firemen in protective clothing tried to track down the source of the methyl bromide. Fire engines doused the whole area with water as a precautionary measure.

Old containers of the volatile chemical were identified as the culprits. The spill was found not to be extensive and the leaky containers were transferred to a safe site well outside the town's boundaries.

Methyl bromide is a broad-spectrum pesticide that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plans to phase out by 2005 because it has been shown to damage the earth's ozone layer.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[08] Man stabbed in the neck

The Arab man was found lying in a pool of blood on a building site.

Hospital doctors later said the man had stab wounds to the neck and was in a serious condition. Limassol police are investigating.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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