UN envoy returns to Cyprus for talks, President seeks breakthrough

UN Secretary-General's Personal Envoy for Cyprus Ángela Holguín Cuéllar is expected on the island on Tuesday for a new round of contacts.

This is her third mission to Cyprus since she assumed office and as the UN has announced she will stay until the 14th of May.

She is set to meet with the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on Wednesday, as well as with a broad range of additional interlocutors.

Before the visit to Cyprus, Holguín traveled to Brussels for meetings with European Union officials, as well as to other capitals.

President of the Republic, Nikos Christodoulides, has said that a crucial week begins and added that his first concern, despite the difficulties and challenges due to the behavior of the Turkish side, is the resumption of substantive negotiations for the settlement of the Cyprus issue, on the basis of the agreed framework.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third. Repeated rounds of UN-led peace talks have so far failed to yield results.

The latest round of negotiations, in July 2017 at the Swiss resort of Crans-Montana ended inconclusively.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed María Ángela Holguín Cuéllar of Colombia as his personal envoy for Cyprus, to assume a Good Offices role on his behalf and search for common ground on the way forward in the Cyprus issue.