Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 01-06-06

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cyprus-mail.com/>

Wednesday, June 6, 2001

CONTENTS

[01] DIKO opts to support Christofias for House President

[02] Annan report 'objective and satisfactory'

[03] Government pledges uniform water rates

[04] Government pledges Akamas verdict 'this year'

[05] Minister insists Cyprus not lagging behind on Green issues

[06] Residents' concern over asbestos housing at British site

[07] Arson attack guts warehouse

[08] 'Account closed' in Co-op probe

[01] DIKO opts to support Christofias for House President

THE WRITING is on the wall: AKEL leader Demetris Christofias will be the next House President following his party's victory in last month's parliamentary elections.

After endless wheeling and dealing among the eight parliamentary parties over who will back who for the House Presidency, DIKO's 106-member central committee decided at a marathon meeting yesterday afternoon to support Christofias.

Their decision is considered critical as DIKO, with nine Parliamentary seats, is expected to play a pivotal role not only in tomorrow's House elections but also in the presidential elections in 2003.

Everything now points to a Christofias victory, with socialist KISOS, which has four seats in the new House, reiterating that if DIKO decided to back the leftist leader KISOS would follow suit.

If elected, Christofias will be the first communist President of the Cyprus Parliament, although his party follows a more socialist line.

Ruling DISY leader Nicos Anastassiades fought to the last yesterday in an effort to ruin opposition AKEL's plans.

Last week, after AKEL which won 20 parliamentary seats and right-wing DISY (19) both said they would back their leaders for the House presidency, Anastassiades said he would withdraw his candidacy for the sake of supporting a contender from either DIKO or KISOS.

His change of heart came when he realised that DIKO was unlikely to back him. The DISY leader was seen to be seeking an alliance between the three parties to pave the way for a coalition in the presidential elections.

In a meeting with DIKO leader Tassos Papadopoulos before the party's central committee convened yesterday, Anastassiades tried to convince Papadopoulos that DIKO should back one of its own or someone from KISOS.

Anastassiades argued that Christofias was not able to represent Cyprus in the European Union because he was a communist.

"If you read the papers in Europe you will agree with me that AKEL is compromising the image of Cyprus," Anastassiades said.

But his warning was dismissed by Papadopoulos as an "exaggeration".

Before the DIKO meeting yesterday, the party's acting chairman Nicos Cleanthous explained why he thought DIKO should not try to get one of its own elected.

"Papadopoulos has said adamantly that he would not stand as candidate," Cleanthous said. "The party's main goal is to get its leader elected as President of the Republic. So we can't go after the House Presidency at the same time. It would compromise our image and it would stand in the way of our higher aspirations."

Cleanthous said last week that everyone who co-operates with DISY "has traumatic experiences and loses their strength eventually". This view was later echoed by other DIKO members.

Before DIKO's last word yesterday, KISOS acting-chairman Yiannakis Omirou said that his party would back Christofias for the House Presidency unless DIKO supported one of its own or 82-year-old outgoing KISOS leader Dr Vassos Lyssarides, who also had his eye on the post.

"In the latter case, our political bureau will convene to revise its decision," Omirou said.

But KISOS vice-chairman Marinos Sizopoulos yesterday disagreed with the decision taken by his party, which is going through a crisis after its poor showing in the parliamentary elections.

"We should have offered to back a candidate from DIKO, and if DIKO turned down that proposal we should back Lyssarides," Sizopoulos said. "Then we could get DIKO to support our leader by agreeing to back Papadopoulos in a coalition for the presidential elections. Such a coalition should be based on progressive principles. Backing Christofias should be our last choice."

The party's vice-president argued that socialism and the middle political ground should be given a chance to blossom "instead of following instructions from the big two parties".

New Horizons' chairman Nicos Koutsou yesterday said his party would abstain from voting if there was no candidate from either DIKO or KISOS.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[02] Annan report 'objective and satisfactory'

THE GOVERNMENT yesterday hailed as "objective and satisfactory" UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan's report recommending the six-monthly extension of UNFICYP's mandate.

Not only was the Greek Cypriot side happy with the terminology and provisions of the report, but it welcomed what it said was a "crystal clear" censure of Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash for his refusal to return to UN-led peace talks.

Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou told his daily briefing yesterday that Annan's report said he had invited President Glafcos Clerides and Denktash to attend proximity talks in late January; but Denktash requested that no date to be fixed for the meeting, and "it has not proved possible to resume talks" since then.

Papapetrou said Annan had plainly pointed the finger at Denktash: "I think this is crystal clear and the report indicates why talks did not take place.

"The report makes an indirect, albeit clear, reference as to who is responsible for the non resumption of the talks."

The report makes no concession to Turkish demands for a separate agreement for the operation of UNFICYP in the occupied areas. The UN's refusal to grant such recognition has in the last year prompted the Denktash regime to impose restrictions on the operations of UNFICYP in the north.

Annan's report noted that the conditions under which UNFICYP operated remained "difficult, owing to the restrictions imposed on it by the Turkish Cypriot authorities and Turkish forces."

"These restrictions remained in force despite efforts to have them lifted and to have the military status quo ante at Strovilia restored."

The report described the situation created when Turkish forces advanced their positions at Strovilia a year ago as a "violation of the military status quo".

It added that UNFICYP was now prevented from monitoring the whole of the fenced area of Varosha, and that observation was limited to the areas visible from static observation posts and a short patrol route well away from the fence.

It said the flying of flags by Turkish forces in Varosha was also a violation of the military status quo, adding: "The UN holds the government of Turkey responsible for the maintenance of the status quo in Varosha."

Papapetrou said the government was satisfied that the report "restored the correct terminology", referring to "the Government of Cyprus" and the "Turkish Cypriot authorities".

He also welcomed the references to the situation in Strovilia and Varosha.

The report noted that the military situation along the ceasefire line had remained calm, apart from a handful of minor incidents between opposing forces, mainly involving verbal abuse and stone throwing across the Nicosia Green Line. The most serious incident saw a Turkish soldier firing in the air near a UN officer protesting a construction by Turkish forces.

It said air violations by either side were down on the previous six months, and that crossings of the maritime security line continued, mainly involving Greek Cypriot pleasure crafts and fishing boats.

Annan's report recommends the renewal of UNFICYP's mandate for another six months, until December 15. A Security Council resolution is expected to approve his recommendation on June 11.

UNFICYP is made up of 1,216 troops from nine countries, as well as 35 civilian police and 183 civilian staff, including 143 recruited locally. It has been in Cyprus continuously since 1964.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[03] Government pledges uniform water rates

THE government yesterday promised to end the "unsatisfactory" pattern of different districts paying different amounts for their tap water.

Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous also said water consumption had shot up since the government had ended the water cuts regime.

"The existing situation cannot be considered satisfactory and must be sorted out," the minister said yesterday, referring to variations in water charges across the island. "It is an age-old situation and we want to introduce one price for the whole of Cyprus," he added.

Themistocleous said the key to changing the water pricing system was to finally get a law setting up an umbrella Water Agency approved by parliament.

"We plan to send to the House of Representatives a plan for fairer pricing of water. But we must first have the law on the unified Water Agency approved as we will then have control of all aspects of water," the minister said.

The idea of merging Water Boards and the Water Development Department to form one umbrella government water body has been around for decades, but Themistocleous seemed confident the new parliament, which convenes tomorrow, would finally approve the relevant bill.

Themistocleous yesterday also said that President Clerides's January 22 announcement that water cuts were a thing of the past had led many to be rather free with their use of water.

"With the advent of full water supply there has been a bigger consumption than one might logically expect," the minister said. "Perhaps, now that we have full water supply, some have felt free to raise their consumption," he added.

The January 22 announcement was made possible by the building of the island's second desalination plant, at Larnaca. Themistocleous repeated yesterday that water cuts, which he described as a "third world situation", would never return. But he also said there was a need for people to be more cautious when using water. "We are still a country that naturally has little water," the minister said.

Themistocleous did not put a figure to the jump in water use, but said most of the increase had been observed in coastal areas, naming tourist centres Ayia Napa and Paralimni as the worst offenders.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[04] Government pledges Akamas verdict 'this year'

OVER a year after a final decision on the future of Akamas was promised, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous yesterday said a verdict on the remote peninsula's future would come "this year".

The minister also dismissed a Euro-MP's warning that failure to protect Akamas could jeopardise Cyprus' accession to the EU.

"I can tell you that the government has set as its target that 2001 will be the year when efforts conclude for a plan for Akamas," Themistocleous told reporters.

On March 1, 2000, the Cabinet announced a controversial decision to allow "mild and controlled" tourism development on Akamas and gave a ministerial committee three months in which to iron out the details.

Themistocleous yesterday said a formula would be found to marry demands for development from local villagers and Akamas landowners with the need to preserve the peninsula, with its turtle-nesting beaches, unique flora and dramatic scenery. The government has been trying to come up with such a formula ever since Akamas was earmarked for National Park status about 15 years ago.

"I like to believe that the Cabinet will take decisions this year," the Agriculture Minister said yesterday.

In early February, Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou - who, like Themistocleous, is on the ministerial committee for Akamas - promised a final decision on Akamas would be taken "by the summer".

The delay in taking a final decision has incensed local villagers but has also worried the EU, with the European Commission repeatedly stating it would like to see the area preserved. In April this year, British MEP Chris Davies warned that Cyprus could not join Europe unless the government afforded proper protection to the remote peninsula.

But Themistocleous yesterday said he was "not concerned" with the comments of MEPs.

In late March this year, the Cyprus-EU joint parliamentary committee backed a 1995 World Bank plan recommending that Akamas be preserved as a 'Biosphere Reserve' with tourism development kept within existing village boundaries.

Greens also support implementation of a state-commissioned and parliament- approved World Bank report, but local residents do not.

Akamas area mukhtars yesterday issued a statement condemning the World Bank plan and the Cyprus-EU joint parliamentary committee for endorsing it. "Akamas is an issue of internal policy which concerns the Cyprus government alone, and therefore only the government and local residents, and not third parties and especially foreigners," the mukhtars stated.

Environmentalists, who have fought long and hard to preserve Akamas, condemn the March 1 Cabinet plan as a sell-out to the development lobby, while local residents are pushing for a more relaxed development regime.

Themistocleous was giving nothing away yesterday about which way the pendulum was swinging, but he did speak of an "Akamas National forest Park", suggesting that, as the March 1 plan proposed, only the peninsula's state forest would be given full protection.

The Cabinet decision allows for "mild" development in all parts of the peninsula except the state forest and the Lara and Toxeftra turtle-nesting beaches. It also allows businessman Photos Photiades, alone among Akamas landowners, free rein to develop an area of forest land on the peninsula's north coast.

Businessman Photiades has been playing his own part in delaying a final decision on the March 1 plan by insisting his Akamas holding is twice the size of what Land Registry department records show.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[05] Minister insists Cyprus not lagging behind on Green issues

CYPRUS is not dragging her feet when it comes to harmonisation with the environmental acquis communautaire, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous insisted yesterday, refuting Green party claims.

The minister said the relevant chapter should be closed by next month. "Huge collective efforts are being made to ensure we have a positive result, which will be the closing of the environment chapter by July 2001," he said at a news conference to mark yesterday's world environment day.

The Green Party yesterday again warned that the island's accession to the EU, set for 2003, was being jeopardised by the government's sluggishness in coming into line with EU environmental requirements.

"We are concerned that if we are not able to close the environment chapter within the next month, after which the Swedish EU presidency comes to an end, and, unfortunately, there are still gaps, then the not-so-friendly countries which take over the presidency next year might use this inability of Cyprus' to close the environment chapter as an excuse to delay accession, " Green Party deputy George Perdikis said at the party's own environment day news conference.

Themistocleous said there were no "less friendly" EU countries, as Perdikis had claimed.

"Most work towards harmonisation with the environmental acquis has been done," Themistocleous said. "All promises made to the EU have been kept, and only one country has so far closed the environment chapter," he added.

Early last month, the greens claimed that EU officials were concerned that Cyprus was lagging behind when it came to the environmental acquis.

The greens leaked to the press a copy of a letter sent to the Foreign Ministry by Cyprus' delegation to Brussels. "Among EU experts. the impression has been formed of slipshod handling of this very important issue on our behalf," the island's delegates warn the government in the letter, dated February 28.

The letter speaks of lack of progress on green issues, noting that whereas Cyprus was ahead of the queue of accession candidates when consideration of the environmental chapter began, "we now present a negative picture".

The island is doing well in closing other chapters of EU harmonisation. In March, Cyprus' chief EU negotiator, George Vassiliou, said he was confident another four to six chapters would be closed before the end of Sweden's current EU presidency. This would bring the island more than 80 per cent of the way towards full harmonisation.

The Green Party yesterday listed the areas the government still had to get its act together on: handling of solid wastes, recycling, fuel quality, atmospheric pollution, treatment of liquid wastes, noise pollution and habitat protection.

While denying any harmonisation problems, Minister Themistocleous yesterday admitted that solid waste treatment, recycling and noise pollution were areas Cyprus had to work on.

But he said Cyprus was doing well in three areas: drinking water quality, seawater quality and air quality. He said the island's tap water met all World Health Organisation (WHO) standards, 34 local beaches had been awarded the EU's 'blue flag' for cleanliness, and recent studies had shown there was no problem with air quality, the minister noted.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[06] Residents' concern over asbestos housing at British site

THE deserted Berengaria housing estate outside Limassol, dubbed a "carcinogen time bomb", could soon be up for sale by the British Bases should they decide that the area no longer has any military value.

Local residents are said to be extremely worried about the possible threat of cancer from the Berengaria houses, which are constructed extensively from asbestos related materials.

"A fire or any other kind of damage to the buildings would blow asbestos fibres for miles around. There is an elementary school just 10 metres away. The greater Limassol area is at risk," said DIKO deputy for Limassol Marios Matsakis.

He called on the British Bases to demolish the housing estate as soon as possible, in accordance with international safety regulations, to avoid future disaster.

The Bases yesterday pointed out that Berengaria posed no immediate danger and that the buildings were perfectly safe to live in.

Furthermore, they said that the estate's immediate future was still hanging in the balance.

Bought by the Ministry of Defence in the 1950s and kept on for military use as a retained site under the Treaty of Establishment, military personnel and their families last year moved from Berengaria to a new housing estate at Episkopi.

The Bases said yesterday that asbestos had not been a factor for the evacuation, merely that the accommodation on offer in Episkopi was of much higher quality.

"Its future has yet to be decided," said spokesman Captain Rupert Greenwood, adding that another use may be found for the land, rather than selling it off.

But Matsakis said he was anxious to prevent the government from making a big mistake in buying back the land before the Bases had dismantled the asbestos buildings - a cost he feels should be borne by the British and not the government.

A source at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that the "preliminary process" of buying the village had begun, but admitted that to the best of their knowledge, the asbestos factor had not been discussed so far.

The Land Survey Department and the Ministry of Interior are also involved in the matter.

But the question is very much up in the air. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said another possibility was that a third party would buy the land.

Matsakis is also worried that private contractors might go in and bulldoze the village, scattering asbestos fibres far and wide.

Once considered the building material of the future, asbestos has since been recognised as one of the most potent carcinogens around.

Breathing in airborne asbestos fibres has been linked to severe medical conditions, such as asbestosis (thickening and scarring of lung tissue) and mesothelioma (a highly lethal tumour of the pleura, the membranous lining of the upper body cavity and lung covering) as well as lung, intestine and liver cancers.

Berengaria - an estate of 200 houses, a school, a community centre, a medical centre, a YMCA, library, messes, shops and three churches, was built between April 1955 and September 1957.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[07] Arson attack guts warehouse

POLICE were yesterday looking into an arson attack which gutted a furniture factory in the Aradhippou industrial estate in Larnaca.

The fire at the Andreas Prokopiou furniture factory started at around 8.30pm on Monday night, but damages have not yet been estimated.

Police said the entrance to the factory had been broken into and that fire fighters had found six points in the building where the fire had started.

The equipment and furniture destroyed are covered by insurance.

Meanwhile, a larger fire in Kokkinotrimithia near Nicosia threatened homes and burned wheat balls and wild scrub in a square kilometre area yesterday.

The Nicosia to Troodos road had to be closed for a while due to the blaze, but the fire brigade's immediate response saved the houses.

It was not clear yesterday what started the fire, but it is thought it could have originated at a pile of sawdust near the forestry industries factory located in the area.

The two fires were the latest in a string of fires, which started at the beginning of the month.

Yesterday, the fire service said it had responded to 88 fires between Friday and Monday.

Of those, 72 were rural fires.

The worst fire broke out on Saturday in the Limassol area near the village of Fassoula.

The blaze, thought to have started in a rubbish dump, razed around four kilometres of carob and olive trees and wild scrub.

At 5am on Sunday, a new fire broke out in the Mouttayiaka area again in Limassol.

It was put out in just 20 minutes. The fire brigade said that fire had been set by arsonists after finding it had started in five different places.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

[08] 'Account closed' in Co-op probe

A GOVERNMENT probe into overdrafts by several Co-operative members has accounted for almost all irregularities in their accounts, Industry Minister Nicos Rolandis announced yesterday.

From the �1,106,767 discovered missing, the investigation has traced back �1,005,437 in the scandal that has led to the resignation of five officials.

A special commission headed by Rolandis found that �88,000 from the accounts was still pending, but this was because of mortgages.

The commission has settled on special arrangements to pay back the remaining �13,330, but deemed legal action unnecessary on "humanitarian grounds".

From now on, any transgressors will be dismissed immediately and steps will be taken to make current laws stricter, Rolandis said.

Copyright Cyprus Mail 2001

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