CYPRUS: The final push for the reunification of divided Cyprus began yesterday without bilateral talks between the two Cypriot teams or a planned quadrilateral meeting between Cypriots, Greeks and Turks.
The UN mediator, Mr Alvaro de Soto, shuttled between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot representatives, who are in separate hotels in a complex on a snowy hilltop above Lake Lucerne.
The Greek Foreign Minister, Mr Petros Molyviatis, and the Turkish Foreign Minister, Mr Abdullah Gul, met and agreed that it was premature to hold such discussions but did not rule them out later in the proceedings.
The Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mr George Koumoutsakos, said that the "common objective" of Athens and Ankara was "the achievement of an agreed settlement for Cyprus".
However, an authoritative Greek Cypriot source told The Irish Times that the UN, which is trying to broker a settlement based on a Swiss-style federation, "is keeping the sides apart and exerting psychological pressure on them" to accept the fourth version of the detailed plan, which was drafted under the auspices of the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan.
The veteran Turkish Cypriot leader, Mr Rauf Denktash, refused to come to Switzerland because he said he did not want to be "put in a corner".
The latest version of the plan being redrafted by the UN team is not expected to be presented to the sides until the 28th.
"Nothing will happen until Annan comes," the source close to the talks said.
Judgment day is likely to be the 30th or 31st, when Mr Annan will formally table the final text to be submitted, on a take-it-or- leave-it basis, to the Cypriot communities in separate referendums scheduled for April 20th.
The source said the Turkish side had not met UN requirements by submitting the map and draft constitution of the Turkish Cypriot constituent state and lists of mainland settlers and voters, whereas the Greek Cypriots had provided the information requested from them by the UN.
There will be no encounter between the Cyprus President, Mr Tassos Papadopoulos and the Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister, Mr Mehmet Ali Talat, before late Friday or Saturday because Mr Papadopoulos is flying to Brussels today for the EU summit.