Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-07-01

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Wednesday, July 1, 1998

Focus back on Cyprus problem

AFTER a brief absence, the Cyprus peace efforts returned to the front pages with a vengeance yesterday, with reports about the latest UN Security Council resolutions and UN envoy Diego Cordovez's imminent visit.

Haravghi said the two UN Security Council resolutions, which renewed the Unficyp mandate and the secretary-general's good offices mission, signalled the start of a new round of efforts to resume peace talks.

It said the Security Council had held discussions with Cordovez about his visit to Cyprus this week. President Clerides had agreed to meet Cordovez, but Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash had not responded, reportedly stipulating that the two UN resolutions had to be to his satisfaction before he would agree to the meeting.

Alithia reported that the Security Council had intervened in support of Cordovez's visit after Denktash had declined to say whether he would meet the envoy.

Portuguese Security Council chairman, Antonio Monteiro, said the UN fully backed Cordovez's visit and urged the two sides to help make the envoy's mission a success. Monteiro also expressed the wish that the visit would achieve some results.

Phileleftheros said that after his refusal to meet EU representatives, Denktash now appeared ready to close the door to UN envoys as well.

Denktash had warned that if the draft UN resolutions, of which he disapproved, were adopted by the Security Council, there was no point in meeting Cordovez. This stance put a big question mark over the Cordovez visit, the paper said.

Machi described the resolutions as "a slap in the face" for Denktash and Ankara as they spoke of a single sovereignty and referred to the "government of Cyprus". The draft resolutions made no mention of the S-300 missiles, the paper said.

Denktash had been infuriated by the news, accusing the Greek side of undermining the talks by its application for EU membership and with the Unified Defence Dogma.

Simerini led with another story about the business dealings of the Bishop of Limassol, which have been the subject of a special meeting between the attorney-general and members of the police force's Business Crime Squad.

The investigation into the alleged laundering of 1.5 billion Iraqi dinars was continuing, the paper said. According to the police, some 2.5 million dinars were found in a Larnaca hotel.

The paper also said an American woman had previously brought the bishop 17 million dinars which were to be used for charity. No banks trade in dinars.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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