Annan expected to present Cyprus peace plan's final version on Monday

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 29, 2004

Annan expected to present Cyprus peace plan's final version on Monday

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The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to present the final version of Cyprus peace plan on Monday morning in last-ditch efforts to reunite the island before it joins the European Union (EU) on May 1, diplomatic sources said in Geneva Sunday.

Annan, who arrived at the Swiss resort of Buergenstock on Saturday to promote negotiations among Greek and Turkish officialsas well as Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot delegates, is expected to meet both sides on Sunday evening, giving them a chance to take up essential issues and convey their views.

On Monday, the final shape of the plan will be presented by Annan and be examined in technical terms by delegations before being put on the negotiation table during talks to be attended by Turkish and Greek prime ministers, officials said.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis is expected to arrive later on Sunday and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan will arrive on Monday.

The basis of the plan is a re-demarcation of borders and the reaching of a power sharing agreement giving ethnic Greek and Turkish communities large degree of autonomy over domestic affairs.Talks are now bogged down mainly over Turkish concerns that they could be dominated by the wealthier and more populous Greek Cypriots.

Cyprus has remained split since 1974 when Turkish troops entered the north of the island after a failed Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.

Negotiations between the two sides resumed under the UN auspices on Feb. 19 in Nicosia but failed to yield any results in the first phase of the talks which ended on March 22.

Source: Xinhua

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