Cypriots and the international community must spare no effort to support a settlement to the Cyprus problem as we cannot afford to have any more such anniversaries, said Colin Stewart, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Cyprus, on Monday, speaking during the multi-contingent medal parade to mark 60 years of service of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus, at the UN Protected Area.
According to Stewart, on March 4, 1964, the United Nations Security Council, alarmed by the escalation of intercommunal violence on the island, adopted its resolution 186 and decided that the situation demanded the establishment of a United Nations Peacekeeping Force and the appointment of a mediator on the Cyprus issue, leading to the formation of UNFICYP by the end of 1964, with approximately 6,300 peacekeepers (troops and police) from Austria, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, New Zealand, Sweden and United Kingdom had formed UNFICYP, present at various locations around the island and ha
d begun their work in the impartial, diligent and caring manner that would set the tone for the decades to come.
Sixty years later, more than 150,000 peacekeepers from 43 countries have served with UNFICYP and contributed to the fulfilment of its mandate, he continued, adding that sadly, 187 peacekeepers and staff have lost their lives while serving with the mission, making the ultimate sacrifice in the service of peace.
‘We honour their memory today and pay tribute to their incredible dedication to bringing peace to a faraway country that is not their own. There is no more concrete evidence of the commitment of UN member states to the cause of global peace than the lives they have put on the line as part of United Nations peacekeeping efforts’, he stressed.
Steward also highlighted the presence in today’s event of about 80 veterans from previous deployments going back to 1964, representing 7 of the troop- and police-contributing countries, namely Argentina, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Montenegro, Sweden,
and the United Kingdom, expressing his gratitude for their service, ‘for the sacrifices you have made and for the long distance many of you have travelled to be with us and help us mark this occasion. It is a measure of the lengthy life of this mission that we have multiple generations of uniformed personnel who have deployed with UNFICYP’.
According to the UN official, today’s UNFICYP is quite different from the one that was deployed in 1964, as from 6,300 troops and police in the early years, there are now 920 military and police, supported by 160 civilians, with the military personnel working in an integrated team with UN police and civilian counterparts to expand the range and nature of its engagements and forge strong working relationships with the communities we serve. He added there are many more women amongst military, police and civilian ranks today, including a good number of former SRSGs, Force Commanders and Senior Police Advisers, underlining that UNFICYP is one of the leading UN peacekeeping mi
ssions on gender inclusion.
Throughout the years, UNFICYP has played a crucial role in preventing a recurrence of fighting and contributing to the resolution of issues that affect the everyday lives of Cypriots across the island, continued Stewart, referring to the 1989 Unmanning Agreement reached between the UN and the sides as instrumental in reducing the number of military incidents in the buffer zone.
He added that UNFICYP does not only monitor the ceasefire and engage on the military status quo but contributes to maintaining law and order and manages the access of civilians for normal activities, including farming in the buffer zone, with the removal of approximately 27,000 landmines being a milestone in enabling civilian activities.
He added that beginning in 1998, UNFICYP expanded its civilian presence and particularly after the opening of the first crossing points in 2003 – which UNFICYP facilitated – UNFICYP has engaged with civil society and convened and organized activities to bring the two comm
unities together, building bridges and foster trust between the communities, and together with the Good Offices Mission they support a wide range of confidence-building measures, in particular through the Technical Committees.
He also said that UNFICYP has been successful in its efforts to maintain peace and stability on the island for the past 50 years, and saved many lives in the decade before that, noting however that today there is tension in the 180km-long buffer zone, as every month peacekeepers record hundreds of incidents and work hard to de-escalate tensions before they get out of hand.
‘The nature of the military violations has also grown more sophisticated and dangerous – where we use to record a change in the number of sandbags at a military post, we now protest the installation of sophisticated surveillance equipment and major new military infrastructure. In recent years, there has also been a growing challenge to the status quo of the ceasefire lines, the integrity of the buffer zone and to th
e UN’s mandated authority’, he added on the matter.
According to Stewart, UN peacekeepers have played a crucial role in helping to build and maintain a peaceful environment on the island, adding while peacekeeping does not resolve conflicts and that the ultimate solution is necessarily political, so the other main goal of UNFICYP is to create conditions for a negotiated settlement of the Cyprus issue. “This is why, 60 years later, UNFICYP continues to work hand-in-hand with the Secretary-General’s Good Offices mission, which has recently been bolstered by the appointment of a new Personal Envoy”, he noted.
He also paid tribute to all those who have served with the UN all these years, adding that ‘we recognize what a sad anniversary this is. Not just for all those who have died – Cypriots and peacekeepers – but for the fact that the Cyprus problem remains unresolved after 6 long decades. 60 years is a terribly long time, and each year that passes the prospects of a settlement fade’.
‘We do not know if this
latest effort will succeed, but all of us – Cypriots as well as the international community – must spare no effort to support it. Because we just do not know if there will be another chance if we miss this current opportunity. We cannot afford to have any more such anniversaries’, he concluded.
The speech was followed by the presentation of medals to currently serving UNFICYP contingents, as well as the presentation of commemorative coins to UNIFCYP veterans present at the event.
Subsequently, UNFICYP veteran and former State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Finland Pertti Torstila shared in his brief intervention memories of his service with the Force 58 years ago, while former Senior Police Adviser Superintendent Li Fang of the Chinese police recalled how the force dealt with the recent coronavirus pandemic.
This was followed by the presentation of commemorative items to troop- and police-contributing countries, with the event concluding with the address of UN Assistant Secretary-General for Support Oper
ations and former UNFICYP Head Lisa Buttenheim.
In her closing remarks, Buttenheim said that UNFICYP is at the vanguard in its adaptation to new technologies and working in an integrated way with all of its personnel, adding that UNFICYP is one of the first peacekeeping missions with a positive contribution in terms of respecting the environment.
UNFICYP has certainly been a pioneer in respect to women’s representation, continued the UN official, adding that the mission has had three female force commanders, while the current Senior Police Adviser is also a woman, the third in the mission’s history.
‘It is a marvel that resolution 186, which is comprised of a dozen short paragraphs in less than two pages, has stood the test of time’, stressed Buttenheim in relation to the UN Security Council resolution setting out UNFICYP’s mandate, adding that although the role of the blue helmets in Cyprus is clear, a UN peacekeeping operation cannot substitute for a comprehensive peace agreement and expressed the hope t
hat the efforts of the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy will yield concrete results soon.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results. The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.
Source: Cyprus News Agency