The United Nations is set to shut its Cyprus peace envoy office after a reunification plan put forward by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is rejected by Greek Cypriots, UN envoy Alvaro de Soto said Saturday.

Speaking at a press conference here, at which he delivered Annan's message on the outcome of referenda, de So to said there were no plans to renegotiate the plan as it stood at the moment.

De Soto said he would be paying farewell calls at the beginning of the week on his several interlocutors and then he would return to New York to report to the secretary general.

The UN office set up on the island would be closing down in the coming weeks, he confirmed.

"My team and I have greatly enjoyed working with Cypriots and we are grateful for the support we received from so many of them and their leaders as well," he added.

A total of 623,801 voters -- 480,165 Greek Cypriots and 143,636Turkish Cypriots -- voted on the plan drawn up by Annan to try to end 30 years of division of the island.

The Annan plan is now null and void following the rejection by the Greek Cypriots though it was approved by nearly 65 percent of the voters in northern Cyprus.

Only the Greek Cypriot part of the island will join the European Union on May 1.

Cyprus, an east Mediterranean island, has been divided into the Turkish-Cypriot north and the Greek-Cypriot south since 1974 when Turkish troops entered the north of the island after a failed Greek-Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.

Source: Xinhua