United Nations.- By Apostolos Zoupaniotis

The first draft of the Security Council Resolution for the renewal of the UNFICYP mandate presented by UK, encourages UN Secretary General “to appoint a permanent Special Advisor in the near future.”.

The first draft of the resolution, set to be adopted by the Council on July 30, was distributed to the rest of the Permanent Member.

There are no surprises in the draft and are only few changes, compared to the previous SC Resolution, mostly to adopt with the new developments since last January. The Permanent Mission of Cyprus to UN is meeting with Council member in an effort to further improve the draft. The improvements involve the Joint Declaration and the CBMs described by the draft only as military.

The changes in the draft text include:

In the fourth paragraph of the preamble, the Council welcomes the Joint Declaration adopted by the parties on 11 February 2014 which contains an agreed set of principles and parameters for a united Cyprus, notes with satisfaction the agreement for the chief negotiators’ discussions in Ankara and Athens, and expresses its support for the ongoing efforts of the leaders and negotiators to reach a comprehensive settlement as soon as possible.

In the fifth paragraph, after reiterating the parameters of a Cyprus enduring, comprehensive and just settlement based on a bicommunal, bizonal federation with political equality, as set out in the relevant Security Council resolutions, encourages the sides to intensify the substantive negotiations on the core issues, and stresses that the status quo is unsustainable.

In the twelfth paragraph regarding the demining, the draft includes the recent proposals and discussions and urges for a rapid agreement on facilitating the recommencement of demining operations and clearance of the remaining minefields.

In the thirteenth paragraph regarding the missing persons, the draft notes the need to intensify the Committee’s work. The same is added to the fifth provisional paragraph of the draft.

And on the seventeenth paragraph notes with appreciation the efforts of Lisa Buttenheim as the Special Representative of the Secretary General; and ad interim Special Advisor, thanks Alexander Downer for his efforts over the last six years as Special Advisor, and encourages the Secretary General to appoint a permanent Special Advisor in the near future.

The Council is expected to meet with the troup-contributing countries on July 24, while on the following day its members will be briefed by Lisa Buttenheim.