Lute flies back to New York

Jane Holl Lute, special envoy of the UN Secretary General, left Cyprus Tuesday morning for New York, following separate meetings with the two Cypriot leaders.

During her brief visit in Nicosia she met with President Nicos Anastasiades, the Greek Cypriot leader in the south, and then crossed the buffer zone and met with Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci in the north.

Lute, who did not make any statements following her meetings, is scheduled to visit Ankara, Athens, and London in the coming weeks, as well as Brussels, before the UN can have the big picture on the fate of the Cyprus talks.

After sounding out all the parties involved in the Cyprus issue, Lute will once again report back to New York to offer her assessment to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on whether or not there is grounds for making another attempt to restart peace negotiations on the Cyprus problem.

Political observers do not expect to see any developments over the summer or before the UN General Assembly in September 2018.

But Nicosia is keeping an eye on New York this week ahead of a UNFICYP vote that could potentially have an impact on UN peace keeping forces around the world.

Following the election of Donald Trump, the US has put forward a series of criteria concerning peace keeping missions around the world, including UN Security Council mandate renewal resolutions.

Those criteria mainly have to do with the peace keeping missions serving the purpose of the political process and providing an exit strategy.

According to CNA sources, Lute’s visit to Cyprus is not connected with the UNFICYP vote in any way.