On the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, AKEL greets and honors the services of UN peacekeepers in Cyprus and in the world aiming at providing humanitarian assistance and the prevalence of peace and security.
In Cyprus, for more than 50 years the UN Peacekeepers have been offering their services selflessly to maintain security and peace. Some of them have sacrificed their very lives over the years in the efforts to safeguard the safety of the Cypriot people.
At the event to mark the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers co-organized by the UN today and the Slovak Embassy in Cyprus in the presence of Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot political parties, AKEL was represented by Skevi Koukouma, member of the Political Bureau of the C.C. of AKEL.
At the ceremony wreaths were laid in honor of the fallen UN Peacekeepers in the presence of Liza Buttenheim, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Cyprus and Major General Kristin Lund United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) Force Commander. Following that, there was a special presentation about the project of the United Nations on demining works in various parts of the island.
In her own statements, Skevi Koukouma referred to the great debt that the Cypriot people owe to the UN Peacekeeping forces in the efforts to secure peace and a ceasefire all through the years. In addition, Skevi Koukouma praised UNFICYP’s significant efforts for the demining of the island which must continue, both within the framework of the Confidence Building Measures, but also the broader efforts to create a climate of trust between the two communities. She also expressed the wish that the sacrifices of the UN Peacekeepers over the years will be vindicated with the overall solution of the Cyprus problem that will liberate and reunify the island and the people of Cyprus within the framework of a bizonal, bicommunal federal solution on the basis of the agreed principles and the resolutions of the UN.
