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1st LD Writethru: UN official says restarting Cyprus reunification negotiations "difficult"

Xinhua, November 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

The United Nations (UN) acknowledged on Tuesday that it would be difficult to restart the Cyprus reunification negotiations, one week after talks in Switzerland failed to bridge the gap between the remaining differences separating the island's Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities.

"I have no news. The situation is difficult," UN secretary-general's special adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide, told journalists after completing two days of separate meetings with Greek and Turkish Cypriot politicians.

He said he was trying to preserve the momentum built in 18 months of negotiations between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci.

They managed to clear up almost all obstacles towards reunifying Cyprus but reached a roadblock when they met at the Swiss resort of Mont Pelerin last week, supposedly to wrap up their talks.

However, the United Nations official said that actually there were no differences between the two sides which could not be resolved. Endit