Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations visited on Thursday UN peace keeping force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) operations across the buffer zone, met with UN peacekeepers, visited the bicommunal village of Pyla and attended an event to mark the International Women`s Day.
On Friday he will have separate meetings with the leaders of the two communities, namely Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, he will meet with the diplomatic community in Cyprus and visit the Committee on Missing Persons (CMP) laboratory and he will be briefed by CMP members on the Committee`s work.
UN spokesperson in Cyprus Aleem Siddique told CNA that the main issue on Lacroix` s agenda is the strategic review of UNFICYP.
This is a familirization visit. He is here to meet with the peacekeepers in Cyprus for the first time and also to see how the implementation on the strategic review of UNFICYP is taking place as well, Siddique noted.
The Security Council has renewed the mandate of UNFICYP for a further six months and has endorsed the implementation of the Secretary-General’s strategic review recommendations to ensure that the Mission is optimally configured to fulfill its mandated tasks.
Siddique said that Lacroix visited on Thursday UNFICYP operations across the buffer zone and was briefed on de-mining. “He spent the afternoon in Pyla with the UN police and also met with the muhktars from both sides,” he added.
He also noted that in the afternoon Lacroix attended a panel discussion on challenging gender stereotypes in Cyprus to mark the International Women’s Day, organized at the Goethe Institute UNDP.
Siddique said that Lacroix is scheduled to meet on Friday morning with the leaders of the two communities on the island. He will also be meeting with the diplomatic community in Cyprus over lunch, he added, noting that in the afternoon Lacroix will visit the CMP’s lab where he will be briefed by the members of the Committee on CMP’s work.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded and occupied 37% of its territory.