US sets up meeting to reduce risk of clash

AT THE conclusion of a 24 hour visit to Cyprus, the US ambassador to the UN, Ms Madeleine Albright, announced yesterday that the first ever meeting had been arranged between the commanders of the Greek Cypriot National Guard and the 35,000 strong Turkish force stationed in the north of the island.

The meeting, under the auspices of the commander of the UN peace keeping force, is aimed at reducing tension along the "Green Line" dividing the island.

The meeting would take place as soon as possible", Ms Albright said. Its object would be to implement UN proposals for troop disengagement and the "unmanning" of the line.

Since the fatal shooting of a Greek Cypriot guardsman by a Turkish soldier last May, there have been incidents of stone throwing and firing by Turkish troops into a Greek Cypriot neighbourhood located on a particularly sensitive stretch of the line. Fears have been expressed that these incidents could escalate into a major clash that could raise tensions between Athens and Ankara, which were on the brink of war in January over the ownership of a group of Aegean atolls.

Having dealt with the urgent security matter, Ms Albright said President Clinton was prepared to play a more active and direct role in working towards a comprehensive solution of the Cyprus problem.

Mr Clinton's personal representative, Mr Richard Beattie, would be making an intensive effort in the coming months to lay the diplomatic groundwork for a comprehensive package that would bring the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities to direct negotiations.

In spite of 22 years of deadlock in negotiations between the two communities, Ms Albright said, the US was not prepared to allow the "status quo to become the final solution" to the Cyprus problem or to permit Cyprus to join the list of problems "too hard" to resolve.

Clearly, Washington would like to achieve a negotiated settlement before Cyprus begins EU accession talks in 18 months time. In the absence of a solution, such talks would be strongly opposed by Turkey.

Ms Albright, Mr Beattie and the US mission, who visited Athens earlier this week, flew from Cyprus to Ankara to hold discussions with the Turkish government and military on bilateral issues.