Eurasia Press & News
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Wednesday (June 2nd) appointed Lisa Buttenheim as his special representative and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in Cyprus. Buttenheim, of the United States, will replace Taye-Brook Zerihoun of Ethiopia, who was appointed in April to a UN post in New York.
Meanwhile, talks aimed at reunifying the divided island were scrubbed on Thursday by Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, citing a recent comment by Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu, who said he was not bound by an appeal from Ban. The secretary-general had urged the pair to conduct talks based on “UN parameters [and] Security Council resolutions”, as well as two joint statements issued in the past. The UN had said both Eroglu and Christofias had welcomed Ban’s comments.
