It’s unusual for an Australian politician to be approached about a top job by the United Nations, but then reviving the peace process in Cyprus is an unusual job.
Former Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer is a strong candidate for the delicate task of bringing the Republic of Cyprus and Turkish Cypriot governments together to resume serious reunification talks. As Australia’s longest-serving foreign minister, Downer has considerable experience in international relations, as his party leader Brendan Nelson confirmed: “Alexander Downer has enormous ability… and I’m not surprised that anybody would want to engage his considerable experience and skills.”
The rumours persist that Downer is likely to become the main UN envoy of the Secretary General for Cyprus, although Downer himself was not giving much away; “I’ve just had some discussions with the United Nations, but this isn’t necessarily something that they want me to do or that I would do.”
If and when it happens, Mr Downer’s appointment would be likely to start just as the renewal of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force in Cyprus is due to be discussed by the UN Security Council. At present, UN peacekeepers patrol the Green lines borders and maintain the UN-controlled buffer zone between the Republic of Cyprus in the south and the Turkish Republic of Cyprus in the north.
Meanwhile, on Cyprus itself, the momentum towards reunification talks has appeared to slow. On the plus side, Republic of Cyprus President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat met on 22 May 2008 in the UN buffer zone for over three and a half hours, much longer than expected. However, a decision on the start of reunification tasks was postponed, pending further discussions at the end of June, and with an actual anticipated start date of the end of July.
Perhaps a straight-talking Aussie politician can provide the spark to get the two sides to finally sit down and get to work on their stated goal. In a joint statement by both leaders as, this goal was the establishment of a “bi-zonal and bi-communal federation based on the principle of equality.”
With the Australian nation’s reputation for straight-talking combined with informality, the reunification of Cyprus may yet be solved by three blokes chatting over a beer. The question is, which beer - Keo or Efes - or perhaps a more diplomatic Castlemaine XXXX?!
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