The leaders of divided Cyprus gathered in The Hague for last-ditch talks with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan aimed at reuniting the Mediterranean island before it joins the European Union.
At tomorrow's meeting, Mr Annan will attempt to get Greek-Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mr Rauf Denktash to agree to put his peace plan to their voters in a referendum on March 30th.
But neither side appeared willing to concede any ground on the eve of the talks, which Mr Annan says represent the last chance for a settlement before the internationally recognised Greek-Cypriot government signs its EU accession treaty on April 16th.
"We are looking forward for an eventual solution but we think that certain matters of the plan need clarifications and negotiations," a Greek-Cypriot spokesman said.
Mr Denktash, whose hostility to the peace plan has withstood mass protests by his people in support of the Mr Annan settlement, sounded downbeat.
"The Greek and Turkish Cypriot sides have not yet said that they accept this version" of the UN plan, he said before flying out of the Turkish capital Ankara.
The plan "needs a lot of changes, it is not smart to submit it to a referendum" since "it has not been completely discussed, it has lots of holes", he said.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded the northern third of the island in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece which was then ruled by a military junta.
The UN plan, which has undergone several changes in a bid to placate the opposing sides, foresees a Swiss-style confederation of two component states.
Both communities would have to give up land to the other, but would run their own domestic affairs. A central government would speak with one voice internationally including at the EU, which Cyprus, along with nine other countries, is due to join in May 2004.
The EU says it would revise the accession treaty to welcome a reunited Cyprus into the fold, and would pump millions of euros (dollars) into developing the impoverished Turkish zone of Cyprus. But it has made clear that the Turkish-Cypriots will be frozen out in the absence of an agreement.
That could prove embarrassing for Turkey, which is battling to start talks on its own bid to join the EU. Without a Cyprus deal, Turkey would find itself with troops stationed on EU territory and refusing to recognise an EU member.
Mr Annan last week summoned the leaders to The Hague to inform him of their positions on his referendum idea, after they failed themselves to meet a February 28th deadline to agree on the UN blueprint. The UN chief has urged both leaders not to be "close-minded".
AFP