The Cypriot government has welcomed a Security Council resolution to extend the mandate of the UN Peace-Keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for another six months.

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Friday to extend UNFICYP's mandate until Dec. 15, 2007, meanwhile called on the two communities in Cyprus to immediately revive negotiations.

In response, Cypriot government spokesman Vassilis Palmas was quoted by local Sunday Mail as saying that "the government of the Republic of Cyprus expresses its satisfaction with the adoption of the resolution, which reiterates the firm adherence of the United Nations to the principles and decisions of the July 8 Agreement."

On July 8, 2006, Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat reached an agreement providing for the concurrent establishment of working groups to address certain areas of the Cyprus problem and the introduction of technical committees to deal with the day-to-day problems that affect the people.

But on-and-off negotiations have yielded no fruits so far and Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides blame each other for the stagnation.

The UN Security Council urged "all parties to immediately engage constructively with the United Nations efforts and demonstrate measurable progress in order to allow fully fledged negotiations to begin, and to cease mutual recriminations."

The council reaffirmed that the status quo is unacceptable, that time is not on the side of a settlement, and that negotiations on a final political solution to the Cyprus problem have been at an impasse for too long.

UNFICYP was established in 1964 to prevent a recurrence of fighting between the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots. Less than 1,000 personnel are currently stationed in Cyprus.

(Xinhua News Agency June 18, 2007)