BRITAIN: Britain is offering to give up nearly half of its sovereign military base areas on Cyprus in an attempt to clinch a UN reunification deal on the island by February 28th, the British High Commission said yesterday.
"The UK has agreed to cede part of the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) consisting of 45 square miles [116.5 sq km], which is just under half of the total area," the mission's spokesman, Mr Stuart Summers, said.
"The offer becomes null and void if either side rejects the plan within the UN timetable, or the people reject it at a referendum," he added.
A UN deadline of February 28th is designed to allow time for referendums on both sides of the island on March 30th to approve a united Cyprus signing an EU accession treaty in Athens in April.
The British envoy, Lord Hannay, met the island's Greek and Turkish Cypriot political leaders yesterday to push for a peace deal ahead of a crucial visit here by the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, tomorrow.
Lord Hannay confirmed the British initiative is part of a new package of proposals that Mr Annan has up his sleeve for a last-ditch attempt to broker a settlement.
"We have nothing to add or subtract to what is proposed in the UN paper of February 23rd in respect to the SBAs," Lord Hannay told reporters.
"What he \ has put forward has the full consent of the British government."
The British bases clause is part of a second revision to a UN blueprint which was first submitted last November and amended a month later following objections from both communities.
Informed sources said the sovereign area to be handed back is mainly in the eastern area and will not affect military operations, especially at the Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri in the southwest.
The move is seen as a "sweetener" by Britain to encourage the Turkish and Greek Cypriots to sign a landmark agreement by the UN-set deadline.
The island's Turkish leader, Mr Tayyip Erdogan, said yesterday he believed a deal could be reached to unite Cyprus in time to be sealed in referendums in March.
"I think that the third Cyprus plan will bring the solution we want and that we can wrap up the issue in March with referendums on both sides [of the island]," Mr Erdogan said after meeting Mr Annan.