State Department reiterates US position for federal Cyprus solution

The State Department says that it is vital that the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is able to to fulfill its mission throughout the island, as authorized by the UN Security Council, while reiterating the US position in favor a bi-zonal, bi-communal federal settlement to the Cyprus problem. A State Department official was responding to a question from the Athens News Agency on the ultimatum of the Turkish Cypriot side that the UN sign a separate status of forces agreement (SOFA) with the North Cyprus. “The UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus plays a critical stabilising role, and it is vital that it is able to fulfil its mission throughout the island, as authorised by the UN Security Council, to cooperate with the parties to the conflict in Cyprus and to create political space towards resolution,” the official said. The representative said the US “supports a comprehensive settlement under the leadership of the United Nations for the reunification of the island on the basis of a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation with political equality, which would benefit all Cypriots as well as the wider region.”