The UN secretary-general’s latest reports on Cyprus were the focus of a closed-door briefing to members of the UN Security Council on Thursday by the UN’s Special Representative in Cyprus and head of the UN peacekeeping force (Unficyp), Colin Stewart’s successor Khassim Diagne

According to the Cyprus News Agency (CNA), the hour-and-a-half briefing in New York saw Diagne underline the intensive efforts being made by the UN secretary-general’s Personal Envoy for Cyprus, Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, to engage with both sides in a bid to pave the way for the resumption of negotiations.

European members of the Security Council – France, Latvia, Greece and Denmark – along with the United States, reportedly reiterated their support for a Cyprus settlement based on the agreed framework of a bizonal, bicommunal federation with political equality.

Pakistan and Somalia, meanwhile, reportedly referred to what they described as “economic inequalities” and “conditions of isolation” affecting the Turkish Cypriot community.