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Cyprus PIO: News Update in English, 03-02-07
From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/>
[01]Friday, 07 February 2003 De Soto in New York to brief Secretary-General
on Cyprus talks
[02] British government maintains regular contacts with two sides on the
Cyprus peace process, says MacShane
[03] Cyprus candidate elected judge of International Criminal Court
[01] De Soto in New York to brief Secretary-General on Cyprus talks
The UN Spokesman, Mr. Fred Eckhard, announced yesterday, at the daily press
briefing, that the UN Secretary-General's Special Adviser on Cyprus, Mr.
Alvaro de Soto, will be travelling to New York next week to brief Mr. Kofi
Annan on the ongoing peace talks in Cyprus. Asked if the Secretary-General
had sent a letter to the Greek Prime Minister, Mr. Costas Simitis and the
Turkish Prime Minister, Mr. Abdullah Gul, inviting them to New York for
talks, the UN Spokesman said that Mr. Annan had sent letters to them, not
to invite them to New York, but "to emphasise the urgency of their pressing
ahead without delay to finalize the security aspects of his revised
December 10 proposal."
[02] British government maintains regular contacts with two sides on the
Cyprus peace process, says MacShane
The British Minister of State for Europe, Dr. Denis MacShane (MP), noted,
last Tuesday, that his government maintained "regular contacts with the
Greek Cypriot side and the Turkish Cypriot side on the settlement process",
citing the visit by the UK Special Representative for Cyprus, Lord Hannay,
to Nicosia on 25-27 January and to Ankara on 2-3 February. In a written
reply to a question posed by the MP, Mr. Angus Robertson, asking what the
Foreign Secretary's actions were regarding the efforts to reunify the
island, Dr. MacShane said that the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary
and himself undertook "wide-ranging and full contacts on the Cyprus
settlement" with their European colleagues in the run-up to the Copenhagen
European Council, which restated the EU's preference that a reunited island
should accede to the EU. The Minister also reiterated the British
government's strong support of the UN peace process. "We believe that there
is a historic opportunity to secure a comprehensive, just and lasting
settlement in Cyprus, by 28 February, based on the United Nations Secretary-
General's 10 December proposals, and allow a reunited island to accede to
the EU", he stressed, and urged the two sides not to let the opportunity
for a solution slip away.
[03] Cyprus candidate elected judge of International Criminal Court
The Cyprus candidate for one of the 18 posts for the International Criminal
Court Judge, Mr. Gheorgios M. Pikis, was elected yesterday in a fourth and
fifth round of secret balloting at UN Headquarters in New York, along with
two other judges, Philippe Kirsch of Canada and Erkki Kourula of Finland.
Mr. Pikis gathered the highest number of votes (60). The first resumed
session of the Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal
Court (ICC), which began Monday, has so far elected eleven judges out of a
pool of 43 candidates to the tribunal, six of them women.
The three new ICC judges join Karl Hudson-Phillips of Trinidad and Tobago,
who was elected in the third round of voting on Wednesday afternoon.
Elected earlier in the week were Maureen Harding Clark of Ireland,
Fatoumata Dembele Diarra of Mali, Sang-hyun Song of the Republic of Korea,
Sylvia Helena de Figueiredo Steiner of Brazil, Akua Kuenyehia of Ghana,
Elizabeth Odio Benito of Costa Rica, and Navanethem Pillay of South Africa.
The election of the Cypriot judge is considered a victory for the Republic
of Cyprus, and it is based on the exceptional qualifications of the
candidate as well as on the positive image of Cyprus at the United Nations
for its active role in the international arena. The election of Mr. Pikis
is also a culmination of intensive efforts by the members of Cyprus'
Permanent Representation at the UN. All the judges elected this week will
be sworn in when the Court is inaugurated in The Hague on 11 March. The
States Parties will reconvene today to conclude their voting.
The Court is expected to be operational by the end of 2003 and will be the
world's only permanent tribunal for prosecuting individuals responsible for
war crimes, including genocide, and crimes against humanity, and,
eventually, the crime of aggression. The Court will have jurisdiction only
over crimes committed after 1 July 2002, when the Statute entered into
force.
From the Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office (PIO) Server at http://www.pio.gov.cy/
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