Our View: The appointed UN official has his work cut out for him

After months of pleading with the UN Secretary-General for the appointment of a special envoy/representative, the government will be able to say that it achieved part of its objective. A ‘high-ranking’ UN official would be visiting Cyprus towards the end of next week to explore the prospects for a resumption of the talks, reported Cyprus News Agency on Wednesday.

It credited this development to a chat President Nikos Christodoulides had with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Under-Secretary-General Rosemary DiCarlo on the sidelines of last Saturday’s Cairo summit. He had “welcomed Guterres’ commitment to appoint a personality to explore the prospects for a resumption of the talks,” the news agency reported.

This is not exactly what Christodoulides, and Nicos Anastasiades before him, had been asking for – they were seeking the appointment of a special envoy – but it is something. We can only speculate that the high-ranking UN official, who is scheduled to have separate meetings with Christodoulides and Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar on his visit, will try to establish whether the ground exists for the UN to undertake a new process.

Logically, a special envoy/representative would be appointed if the two sides indicated the political will to engage constructively in a peace process, within a specified time-period, towards a specific end – bizonal, bicommunal federation. If Tatar insists on two states it is extremely unlikely Christodoulides would want a resumption of talks. Perhaps, there might be a way round Tatar’s demand for equal sovereignty, as long as a federal settlement remains the objective.

This would be for the high-ranking UN official to discuss with the two leaders. If the sides remain as far apart as they have been for the last few years, the UN official would not be returning any time soon, nor would a special envoy/representative be appointed, as this would constitute a waste of UN resources, a time when there are much more pressing issues in the world for the organization to focus on. It does not help that states which could have pushed the peace process forward have two deadly wars to deal with.

Next week’s visit will probably be a low-key affair, but it will make clear the intentions of the two sides to the UN and enable Guterres to decide whether another process would be worth pursuing. If he decides the ground for such a process does not exist, we will return to the stalemate that neither side seems to be particularly unhappy with. It will also end Christodoulides’ incessant calls for the appointment of a special envoy. Once the UN establishes the conditions for a new process do not exist, it would be rather pointless to appoint a special envoy.