Cyprus Mail: Press Review in English, 99-07-07

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Wednesday, July 7, 1999

Diplomatic counter-offensive planned

THE CYPRUS problem continued to dominate the front pages with prominence given to National Council's decision to go on a diplomatic counter- offensive aimed at pre-empting "dangerous developments".

Haravghi, under the headline "Pre-emptive diplomacy here and now", reported that party leaders had decided to "move in all directions so that the change to the basis of the negotiations could be avoided". They all agreed that the "Cyprus issue should remain within the UN framework and that procedures that would lead to a settlement serving the interests of Cyprus and its people, should be followed".

The National Council had adopted the proposal by Akel leader Demetris Christofias, for "a division of labour among the parties to enable strong action and pre-emptive diplomacy that would lead to better results". Pre- emptive diplomacy was to be undertaken immediately so as to put right all the negative points and omissions of the UN Secretary-General's report and Security Council's resolutions.

_Phileleftheros

_ said the Cyprus government had made its position clear with regard to the new initiative, rejecting discussion of confederation and any deviations from UN resolutions. The government and political parties would undertake an international campaign in order to change the unfavourable climate created by the comments by foreign envoys (Hannay, Holbrooke, Rantzau).

The paper also focused on the main points of President Clerides' letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The letter expressed Clerides' opposition to efforts to upgrade the status of Rauf Denktash and the attempts to deviate from UN decisions. It also warned that the government's silence did not signify acceptance "of the other side's interpretations and objectives".

_Politis

_ said that Clerides' tactics, aimed at preventing Annan's invitation to talks from introducing "new demons to the Cyprus issue", would consist of three moves. The first was "diplomacy through correspondence", with Clerides writing to Annan, President Clinton and the leaders of China and France. He would also write to the German Chancellor to protest about statements made in Cyprus by German envoy Detlev Rantzau.

The other move would involve party leaders travelling abroad in a campaign to alter the negative climate. Finally, particular attention would be given to the proximity talks, being held by UN Representative Ann Hercus, with regard to the status afforded to Denktash.

_Alithia

_ focused on an interview given to the Cyprus News Agency by German envoy Detlev Graf von Rantzau, who had said that the G8 had taken an initiative on Cyprus because the situation was deteriorating. The fear that things would get even worse with the passing of time had spurred the international community into action.

Rantzau warned that any initiative after the current one would be doomed to failure. He said that the most important thing was to find the kind of compromise that would allow both sides to have security and would "facilitate the forging of normal relations."

Simerini, quoting a report that had appeared in the latest issue of Time magazine, said that President Clinton had allegedly recruited hackers to hack into the computer systems of the Cyprus banks in order to get to the accounts of Slobodan Milosevic. The news has upset the offshore community, especially Russian and Yugoslav investors, as bank confidentiality was under threat.

According to Time, Clinton had told the CIA to use its hackers in order to trace Milosevic's millions in Switzerland, Cyprus, Greece, Russia and China. Cyprus had already made it clear that Milosevic has no accounts on the island.

_Machi

_ claimed that the Russian company which had supplied the T-80 tanks to Cyprus had given three different sets of specifications regarding the type of fuel which should be used in the tanks. The matter will be discussed in the House after reports that the National Guard damaged the engines of the T-80 tanks by using the wrong type of fuel in them.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1999

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