By Patroclos

GOOD to see that Prez Nik is re-discovering a bit of his old confrontational style and aggression which we feared he had lost for good. Many felt that he had put his ashtray-hurling days behind him and managed to control his bad temper, some scurrilous rumours going as far as to suggest that he had embraced Zen Buddhism.

This speculation was proved to be complete nonsense on Wednesday when a frothing Nik, wearing his mean and nasty look, laid into the media, saying they were in no position to sit in judgement of the political parties over their funding when they had been taking millions from the banks in advertising.

The finger-wagging prez said: “I do not accept moral lessons from anyone. Those who were taking millions to advertise the banks so you could absorb the lesson, ‘think of it, it can be done’ cannot speak. It was not the politicians who were carrying these ads. I am strict but those judging should also be judged.

“Patience has its limits,” he warned and then declared: “I will never question whether they (media owners, presumably) carried out any self-criticism about the millions they collected to advertise the banks. And in 2007 and 2008 were they criticising or hosting all those that today they accuse of being involved in the banking scandals?”

He had had enough of the media going on about the €500,000 DISY had received from Maritime Focus, a company with links to Andreas Vgenopoulos, before the 2008 presidential elections to pay the air fare of students coming from abroad to vote. He has every reason to be annoyed because at the time he was the leader of DISY, a fact the newspapers and TV stations avoided focusing on when covering the matter. But he chose not to criticise them for that.

THE RANT finished on a note of sophistry. “DISY cannot be accused of raising money to bring over students like everyone does, and of being involved in a scandal of suspicious ties. Ties with whom and how? When we were in opposition could we have done favours?”

But the money was given to DISY on the eve of presidential elections and there was no guarantee that its candidates would have lost and the party would have remained in opposition. The future destroyer of Laiki had given money to the campaigns of both the candidates – Kasoulides and Christofias – which showed that he was not backing them for ideological reasons or for their electoral programme.

Interestingly, Foreign Minister Kasoulides, to whose presidential campaign the money went, has very smartly kept quiet, leaving Averof, and, to a much lesser extent, Nik to carry the can. This may partly explain Nik’s righteous rage, which was a welcome reminder that he can still get mad, even if for the wrong reasons.

WHAT was the aim of Nik’s outburst? This is our establishment’s interpretation of his rant: 1) the media should not report the dubious funding of the political parties; 2) if they make the mistake to report it once, they should not mention the subject ever again; 3) the media is as corrupt as the political parties and therefore cannot sit in judgement of them; 4) the president has a PhD in moral behaviour and knows everything about it, which is why he does not accept lessons any more.

While he is right about the media being loyal to their big advertisers, their relationship is well publicised and there for all to see. Newspapers will write nothing remotely negative about Piraeus Bank, despite the fact that its survival was secured at the expense of our banks, because it their biggest advertiser. Everyone sees its big, full-page adverts and hears its radio jingles 10 times a day on every radio station and can put one plus one together.

The parties, on the other hand, do everything secretly and are doing their best to keep it that way. For years they have been refusing to pass legislation making it compulsory for parties to divulge information about their funding such as the identity of contributors and the amounts. As far as we know, they may be taking money from a Satanist cult and keeping it a secret from the Archbishop, thinking he would mind.

SURELY a prez who does not accept moral lessons from anyone, instead of mouthing off about the media, should have been giving assurances that the investigation into Maritime Focus money trail would continue and there would be no cover-up.

This was necessary, after the report in an irresponsible newspaper said that the chief investigator had resigned from the Focus case because he was not allowed to do his job properly, claiming deputy AG Rikkos, Nik’s appointee, was interfering in his work.

This was the point at which the prez should have been angrily stating the investigation would not stop until the truth shone, rather than claiming the media did not have the right to speak because they were as corrupt as the political parties.

We are now half expecting the Attorney-General to announce that the case was closed because there was insufficient evidence to pursue it.

THEY would be opening the Loel zivania bottles at AKEL HQ when this happens. AKEL, reportedly, received three times more money than DISY from Maritime Focus (€1.5 million), but was much smarter in covering the money trail. The money went to front companies, which the party claimed it had nothing to do with.

AKEL gained experience in covering the money trail from the all those years it received cash from the Soviet communist party. However, the Focus investigator, I am informed, had managed to follow the money from the front companies to the commie party and commie football club Omonia, but additional work needed to be done.

Whether this investigative work will be completed and expose AKEL’s denials of any links to Focus as lies, remains to be seen. But why would Nik want the matter closed, when AKEL stands to benefit the most from this? The damage to DISY has already been done so why would Nik want to protect those hideous commies?

HOPEFULLY, now that the investigation into the collapse of the banking system, conducted by the House ethics committee, has been completed and the report issued, we will be spared the torture of listening to its chairman, Eurocock deputy Demetris Syllouris, mouthing off his moral platitudes and stern warnings every morning on the radio shows.

Syllouris had become a daily fixture on the airwaves, like some radio evangelist preaching about the impending Second Coming which will punish all the unrepentant sinners who took their money out of Kyproulla, instead of patriotically leaving it to finance the losses of Laiki and Bank of Cyprus.

But he was on the radio yesterday morning as well and I bet we will be hearing him again tomorrow morning, singing the praises of his investigation, which after months of investigations, discovered very little that was not already known.

The investigation helped the supercilious Syllouris raise his public profile – posing as the fearless and resolute investigator that would expose all the crooks and thieves to the people – ahead of the European elections in which he is a DISY candidate. Now we are all praying he wins so the airwaves can be freed of his continuous presence.

THE COMMITTEE eventually abandoned the idiotic idea to release the list of the money transfers ahead of the March ’13 Eurogroup meeting, giving the opportunity of that other obnoxious, moralising populist Perdikis to threaten to make it public.

It is quite funny that Syllouris spent the last month talking about this list, but never thought of investigating the list of those who actually violated rules by taking money out of Cyprus during the banks’ lockdown. This glaring omission was brought up in the last fortnight by which time the committee’s report was finished. Syllouris blamed the former governor professor Panicos for supposedly saying that such a list could not be given.

However our information was that the committee had not asked for this list from the Central Bank until a couple of weeks ago. Syllouris had gone after the people and companies that had done nothing illegal, but showed no interest in going after those who broke the law. I am sure there is a perfectly implausible explanation for this.

WE HAD to hear this as well. The government will set up a National Security Council to advise the president about issues of national security and the man tipped to be in charge of this ridiculously unnecessary body is Fotis Fotiou, a casualty of the DIKO civil war.

The dim and dull Fotiou was axed as defence minister when Junior decided to pull DIKO out of the government and has been without a political role since then. The details regarding the operation of the Council have not been drafted, so it is not yet known whether Fotis would be receiving a salary for doing nothing.

However the government was quick to quash rumours that the Council was set up exclusively for Fotiou’s benefit, arguing that its establishment was included in Nik’s election programme. If only I had known, I would have voted for Malas.

THE GENERAL manager of the Cyprus Culture Foundation – the Kikis Lazarides personal vanity project funded by the taxpayer – is still in his job collecting his fat monthly salary of about six grand a month even though the operation of the foundation was suspended by the Council of Ministers last year.

The issue was made public through the release of a letter written by the new auditor-general to the finance minister, highlighting the fact the foundation had not been wound down yet. The general manager was so stung by reports that he was collecting a salary for doing nothing that he issued a self-pitying announcement which did not mention his name.

Tass news agency carried the announcement of the general manager with no name who said: “In the last few days, the subject of my contract, as general manager of the Cyprus Culture Foundation has been appearing in the mass media, in a way that is inaccurate, hostile, improper and extremely insulting to my person.”

The mass media has not been insulting enough to the anonymous general manager. If he had any pride he would have stepped down when the foundation’s operation was suspended last December, instead of carrying on collecting his fat salary from the bankrupt state for running a foundation that closed down last year. Incidentally the name of the insulted and hurt GM is Tasos Angelis.

A COUPLE of weeks ago there were calls for justice minister Ionas Nicolaou to take political responsibility for the behavior of football hooligans and resign.

This week, after the case of the rape of an underaged girl, the Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies (MIGS) issued a statement demanding that not only Ionas, but also prez Nik, “accept political responsibility for the systematic violence against women and girls.”

To be fair, MIGS stopped short of calling for Ionas’ or Nik’s resignations over the rape case, even though making them “politically responsible” for the acts of rapists seems a bit too much.

I WOULD like to finish with a quote by the Argentinian manager of Atletico Madrid, Diego Simeone, after his side emphatically defeated Chelsea to earn a place in the Champions League Final. I hope it does not cause offence to MIGS. He concluded his post match press conference with the following praise for his team: “I want to congratulate the mothers of these players, because they gave them big cojones to play like this.”

EVERY few months, The English School manages to get in the news for all the wrong reasons. It did it again this week with a letter written by four members of the Parents Teachers Association, in which they accused the board chairperson of being economical with the truth, appeared in the media. The chairperson subsequently notified one of the signatories of the letter that she was terminating the services he had been offering the school (free of charge) because of his allegedly defamatory comments.

This had been preceded by public rows between members of the current board, and the nasty battle for control of the parents association, eventually won by the nationalist faction, which scrapped the board’s decision to promote the bi-communal character of school. Muslim religious holidays stopped being observed while the celebration of Greek national holidays was re-introduced. This battle raged in the media and led to the creation of a rival parents’ association that wanted to preserve the bi-communal character of the school.

Then we had the teachers’ union of the school deciding that they wanted to get rid of the previous head-teacher, because she was too demanding. After an extended period of rowing, the board, chaired at the time by a pro-union, AKEL apparatchik, got rid of the head-teacher in the middle of the school year. The current head-teacher, meanwhile, is leaving this summer, supposedly because of disagreements over his pay. This high turnover of heads cannot ensure the continuity and stability that are essential for the smooth operation of the school, but it appears that the interests and welfare of the children is the last thing on the mind of the irresponsible adults who run the institution.

What a shame that the oldest private school in Cyprus has been turned into a battleground for rival factions of parents, political placemen and teachers, each with their own agenda and petty interests. It was indicative of this malaise that the current board decided this year that the children of board members, like those of teachers, would be accepted into the school even if they failed the entry exam. Such a self-serving decision, undermining any notion of meritocracy and fair play, is certainly not what you would expect from a school that is he supposedly striving to promote academic excellence.

In defence of this decision, the chairperson, said that the entrance exam privilege had existed for children of board members until 1999 but had been abolished, as if this were justification for its re-introduction. It was abolished because previous board members rightly thought it was an unfair arrangement and put the good name of the school above their narrow personal interest. The current board had even considered giving the children of its members a discount of fees, as had also been the case before 1999, but the idea reportedly could not command a majority.

The English School has become another example of the irreparable damage done by the direct interference of the political parties and their accomplices, the unions. Once considered the island’s top private school, to which everyone wanted to send their children, it has gradually been reduced to a semi-governmental type of organisation that is run badly by the self-serving apparatchiks of the political parties and primarily serves the needs and interests of its employees – the teachers – just like the Ports Authority and the EAC.

And just like most party/union-run state organisations, the school is in dire financial straits, with 90 per cent of its revenue going on wages, leaving no money for much-needed improvements on facilities. Many classes are housed in prefab building and this does not look like it will change soon. Now, it faces the added problem of being owed hundreds of thousands of euros in unpaid fees that parents cannot afford to pay. Some members of the board are now expressing genuine concerns about its viability.

Instead of dealing with these issues, which threaten the very future of the school, the party apparatchiks on the board continue to bicker over trivialities, happy to get rid of yet another head-teacher – presumably they have the support of the teachers’ union – and showing no concern over the instability and uncertainty this fosters. None of the other private schools are in such a mess, because they are privately-owned and neither the political parties nor the teaching unions have a say in their running. The English School, in contrast, is a trust and the guardian of the trust is the government, which has consistently placed the school under the control of the destructive alliance of parties and unions that leave everything they touch in ruins.

By Constantinos Psillides

LIFTING THE veil of anonymity surrounding football hooligans, relentlessly pursuing them and engaging the public in a targeted media campaign are just some of the actions police should take to effectively deal with football violence in Cyprus, according to a former chief superintendent of West Midlands police force in England.

“This is not an insolvable problem,” Michael Layton told the Sunday Mail, adding that football violence can be reduced to a manageable level.

“It would perhaps be naive to say that it can ever be eradicated completely in any country but it can certainly be managed and reduced in size.”

The April 22 clash between APOEL and AEL fans which resulted in an innocent bystander losing an eye when he was hit in the face by a rock, is just the latest incident in the ever-rising menace of football hooliganism.

Layton, a frequent visitor to Cyprus, is no stranger to issues of football violence.

A veteran with more than 40 years in the police service and a former director of intelligence and operations with the British Transport Police (BTP), Layton was directly involved in the British police force’s fight against hooliganism.

Layton managed an undercover police operation called ‘Operation Red Card’ which targeted Birmingham City Football Clubs football hooligans known as Zulu Warriors.

According to the book Football, Violence and Social Identity, by Richard Guilianotti,the 1987 operation (one was also launched in 1999) ended in January of that year when 180 police officers swooped in the homes of 67 youths suspected of belonging to the hooligan group.

Twenty-one were remanded in custody for one week while others were bailed not to go within one mile of a football ground. Forty-nine were charged. Fifteen were jailed, the maximum sentence being 30 months.

Asked by the Sunday Mail, Layton produced a 20 point list on how to deal with football hooligans, clarifying that a basket of solutions should be offered so the police can pick those that fit the situation best.

In his action plan, Layton pointed out that anonymity was one of the main problems to tackle.

“They need to know that their identities are known and that there are consequences to their actions which in turn increase the fear of detection,” said Layton.

In the past authorities had asked the clubs to cooperate with them by issuing a “fan ID card”, which fans would be required to present to enter the football grounds. The suggestion never materialised, as clubs did not want to antagonise fans who vehemently opposed the suggestion.

Police then tried to use other deterrents, such as publicising photos of hooligans. This measure has also proven ineffective, as the latest clash showed clearly. Police issued 11 pictures of hooligans but no arrests have yet been made.

Sergeant Michalis Herodotou, head of police anti-hooliganism office, agreed with Layton that an anonymity ban could be an important weapon.

“Once these people feel that their anonymity is at risk, they won’t set foot in a football field. Anonymity is their greatest weapon,” he said on Saturday.

“The cards would be issued by the club themselves. We won’t have access to personal data, except when it comes to criminal investigation. We don’t care who issues a fan ID card, as long as they are issued,” he said.

But Herodotou told the Mail that although clubs had initially been in favour of the measure, they backed down when the story broke in the media.

Police have released pictures of hooligan suspects but no arrests have been made

Following the anonymity ban, Layton argued that the justice system needed to speed up with emphasis put on addressing the expectations of victims rather than the offenders. Politicians, he said, should support the judiciary system in terms of having an effective deterrent sentencing policy.

“Offenders should expect to start going to prison,” said Layton.

The former chief superintendent also suggested that the law governing CCTV and hand held camera footage should be re-examined. Currently the admission of video footage is a “grey area” for Cypriot courts.

“The innocent have nothing to fear from being viewed on camera but visual evidence provides irrefutable evidence in a court of law and also acts as a real deterrent when people know that they are likely to be filmed,” Layton argued.

Stringent bail conditions should also be applied when a suspect is arrested for football related matters. These could include not being allowed to enter any designated football ground in Cyprus or areas such as clubhouses or town centres, signing on at police stations on match days and curfews.

Layton’s action plan also calls for an “intelligence led task force”, to gather and assess intelligence on a regular basis so as to produce problem profiles on priority hooligan groups, create target profiles of individuals and identify “hot spots” through historical analysis.

All of these, according to the former Chief Superintendent, would enable the police to make operational decisions as to where to deploy staff.

A historical data analysis would have indeed saved the police a lot of trouble, if it had been applied before the APOEL-AEL game. It wasn’t the first time the area near the futsal fields next to the Nicosia stadium had seen football related violence. On November 15, 2009, fans of APOEL and Omonoia clashed at that very same spot, armed with knives, baseball bats and wooden sticks. The incident resulted in an APOEL fan being seriously injured when fans of the other team almost beat him to death.

When dealing with football hooligans, Layton said the police should be relentless and not just when it comes to football related activities. He cited the “Al Capone philosophy”, referring to the famous Chicago mobster who was arrested not for his numerous criminal activities but for tax evasion.

“Do they have outstanding fine warrants, do they drive an uninsured car, do they not wear seat-beats? Do they drink and drive or take drugs? Do they regularly park on double yellow lines? Do they carry weapons or engage in illegal hunting?” asked Layton. “A target profile will identify these issues and create enforcement opportunities aimed at disrupting the individual to the point where they either give up their anti-social behaviour to get out of the limelight or go to prison.”

Layton described the hooligan structure as that of an ‘apple’ with the hard core group generally being made up of no more than a hundred hard-line hooligans who will be happy to engage in fighting. The second layer consists of ‘up and comer’ individuals who are prepared to join in with the hard liners when the odds are right, and then finally an outer layer of people who are happy to run round at the back trying to look as if they are fighting but actually doing nothing apart from adding to the chaos. “Whilst it is the hard core who should be treated as a priority, nevertheless you need to cut off roots and branches in relation to the other two layers to stop them becoming part of the core,” he warned.

Although most of the measures he suggested are suppressive, Layton made it clear that an effective media campaign is absolutely crucial.

Layton stressed that law-abiding football goers should not feel targeted.

“The vast majority of people who attend football matches are decent law abiding citizens who usually want nothing more than to support and enjoy a sporting activity which brings people together in a common bond,” he said. “Whatever we do we therefore need to make sure that we do not criminalise the innocent majority and it is vital that they feel engaged and part of any solutions.”

Responding to those that said that police should completely withdraw from policing matches and leave the security to the clubs, Layton said that this was simply not an option for any civilised society.

“Once you start withdrawing from one element of policing, it is inevitable that the community will try to fill the void to police themselves and anarchy prevails with only the strongest winning,” he said.

Pro-Russian militants stormed a Ukrainian police station in Odessa on Sunday and freed nearly 70 fellow activists as the prime minister blamed police corruption there for dozens of deaths in rioting on Friday.

“Russians won’t abandon their own!” militants chanted as they smashed windows and broke down the gate at the compound, where comrades had been held since Friday’s mayhem. Others shouted “Russia! Russia!” and “we will not forgive!”

Odessa police said 67 activists were allowed to walk free.

Some officers were offered the black and orange St. George’s ribbon, a Russian military insignia that has become a symbol of the revolt, and were cheered by the crowd of several hundred.

As rebellion simmered, questions were raised about the ability of the army as well as police to confront an uprising Kiev says is backed by Moscow and led in the field by Russian special forces – an accusation the Kremlin denies.

Police in the eastern port of Mariupol said pro-Russian rebels had tricked soldiers at a checkpoint into eating food laced with a sleeping potion. The soldiers were then bundled off along with their weapons, prompting long talks to free them.

Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk, speaking in Odessa on the western, Black Sea stretch of Ukraine’s coast, accused Russia of engineering Friday’s clashes there that led to the deaths of more than 40 pro-Russian activists in a blazing building.

But he was pointedly critical of the police.

“If the law enforcement system in Odessa had worked not exclusively on the ‘Seventh Kilometre’ and had protected people, then these terrorist organisations would have been foiled.”

The Seventh Kilometre is an open market on the edge of Odessa, associated in the popular consciousness with the corruption and black market business that have marked Ukraine’s 23 years of post-Soviet independence.

Odessa’s police chief was fired on Saturday and Yatseniuk said other changes in leadership were planned.

Friday’s clashes were the deadliest since Moscow-oriented president Viktor Yanukovich was forced to flee in February and pro-Russian militants launched uprisings in the industrial east. They also marked the first serious disorder beyond eastern areas since Yanukovich fell, heralding possible trouble for Kiev.

Outright civil war in Ukraine and the division of a country the size of France would have serious implications for countries around, not least for Russia and for NATO states bordering it.

“There were dozens of casualties resulting from a well prepared and organised action against people, against Ukraine and against Odessa,” said Yatseniuk, whose Western-backed government took power after Yanukovich fled and aims to hold a presidential election to replace him in three weeks time.

ODESSA TENSION

Friday’s deaths occurred after running clashes, involving petrol bombs and gunfire, between supporters and opponents of Moscow on the streets of Odessa, where the majority of people speak Russian. The pro-Russian activists were trapped in a building as it burned down.

It was not clear who had thrown the petrol bombs that started the fire but pro-Russian demonstrators at the police station on Sunday blamed pro-Kiev activists.

Yatseniuk dismissed Russian accusations that his government was provoking bloodshed in the east with an operation to restore Kiev’s authority in a series of cities under rebel control.

“The process of dialogue had begun, only it was drowned out by the sound of shooting from automatic rifles of Russian production,” he said.

Russia, which annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March, said it would try to organise talks between Kiev and representatives from the south-east: “It appears that without external help the Kiev authorities are not capable of establishing such a dialogue,” Russian deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin told Rossiya-24 television.

Germany’s foreign minister said he was pressing for a second international conference at Geneva to bring Russia and Ukraine together with the United States and European Union to settle the dispute. Moscow and Kiev accuse each other of wrecking a four-way accord to end the conflict signed at Geneva on April 17.

Ukraine is divided between a largely Russian-speaking population in the industrial east and Ukrainian-speaking west, where more pro-European Union views prevail. Moscow says Russian-speakers face threats from Ukrainian nationalist militants, an accusation Kiev denies.

Focus of tension on Sunday remained Odessa, traditionally a melting pot of cultures, with pro-Russians accusing Kiev of engineering events that led to the deaths on Friday.

The army suffered an embarrassing upset near the eastern town of Mariupol when soldiers at a checkpoint accepted food offered to them by a group presenting themselves as public spirited citizens. Such donations have been common in recent weeks, as Ukraine’s forces suffer a serious lack of resources.

“It turned out that the food contained a substance that induced sleep among the servicemen,” the acting head of Mariupol criminal police department, Alexei Paniotov, said.

“After about half an hour, about 20 unidentified people arrived in three cars and, taking advantage of their helpless state, took them prisoner along with four automatic rifles, a grenade launcher, a machinegun and ammunition.”

The five soldiers, taken prisoner on Saturday, were released on Sunday after negotiations between police and pro-Russian militants. In the course of the wrangling, pro-Russian activists built barricades through the centre of Mariupol.

There were no signs of Ukrainian forces pushing their declared campaign to remove separatists from eastern cities including Kramatorsk, Donetsk and the rebel stronghold of Slaviansk.

Kiev is organising a presidential election for May 25. However, as things stand, it would have trouble conducting the vote in many parts of the east, a circumstance that would allow Russia to declare any government emerging as bereft of legitimacy.

Russia denies ambitions to seize eastern Ukraine as it has annexed the Crimea peninsula but reserves the right to send troops to defend Russian-speakers if it deems necessary.

Separatists who have declared a “People’s Republic of Donetsk” are planning a referendum on secession next Sunday.

The capital Kiev has remained quiet since the protests that forced Yanukovich to flee to Russia. But celebrations this week marking the anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War Two could be a source of tension.

Northern Ireland police released Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams on Sunday following four days of questioning over the 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville.

Police arrested Adams on Wednesday over the murder of McConville, a killing he said he was “innocent of any part” in. A file will be sent to the province’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS), the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) added.

“A 65-year-old man arrested by detectives from PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch investigating the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in 1972 on Wednesday, 30th April has been released pending a report to the PPS,” the PSNI said in a statement.

THE EPP`S CANDIDATE for the post of president of European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker has pledged that if he wins, he would see the Commission stuck to relevant UN Security Council resolutions on Cyprus.

He was speaking during a joint press conference with DISY leader Averof Neophytou in Nicosia at the weekend.

Referring to the Cyprus talks, he pledged as Commission president, he would “take care of the European interest in these negotiations”. Juncker is also in favour of confidence building measures.

“I do like the ideas concerning the return of the city of Famagusta to its lawful inhabitants,” he said, adding that if he has the chance to lead the European Commission, it “would stick to the relevant UN Security Council resolutions”.

Juncker said the Ankara Protocol must be implemented and Turkey has to withdraw its troops from Cyprus, while the EU needed to be “a facilitator in this process and to has to stand up if basic European values are not respected”.

He also said “it has to be understood by everyone” that Cyprus has the right to explore and exploit its natural resources.

On the economy, he said it had proven to be far more resilient than forecast. “The banking sector has been stabilised, the internal capital controls have been removed. The fiscal consolidation has to be a pursuit. What is worrying is the high level of unemployment. We have to combine the need for fiscal consolidation and the need for growth and job creation policies.”

By Tom Miles

Pakistan’s failure to stem the spread of polio triggered global emergency health measures on Monday, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommending all residents must show proof of vaccination before they can leave the country.

The emergency measures also apply to Syria and Cameroon, which along with Pakistan are seen as posing the greatest risk of exporting the crippling virus and undermining a UN plan to eradicate it by 2018.

Pakistan is in the spotlight as the only country with endemic polio that saw cases rise last year. Its caseload rose to 93 from 58 in 2012, accounting for more than a fifth of the 417 cases globally in 2013.

The virus has recently spread to Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Syria, and has been found in sewage in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and greater Cairo, said WHO assistant director general Bruce Aylward. It also appeared in China two years ago.

“In the majority of these reinfected areas, the viruses circulating actually trace back to Pakistan within the last 12-18 months,” Aylward told reporters on a conference call.

Pakistan has called an emergency meeting of senior provincial and federal health officials for Wednesday to finalise how to implement the new requirements.

“The best option would be vaccinating the passengers at the airport departure where polio vaccination cards would be issued to the passengers. Human resource and vaccines would have to be worked out for the purpose,” State Minister for Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar said in a televised broadcast.

“It would be most practical as people often have to fly in emergencies.”

2018 TARGET

Aylward said Pakistan had done “tremendous” work to restore security in Peshawar after deadly attacks on health workers had impeded the fight against polio. The race to meet a target to eradicate polio by 2018 was still feasible, he said.

“In terms of the 2014 working target to try and stop transmission, from the data presented, clearly Pakistan would be the only country that would be considered ‘off track’ in terms of its ability to meet that deadline,” he added.

WHO chief Margaret Chan declared the resurgence of the disease to be a public health emergency of international concern, the first such designation since a 2009 flu pandemic.

The travel restrictions should stay in place until there is a whole year with no new exports of the disease, or six months if the countries can show they have carried out high quality eradication activities in infected and high risk areas.

The WHO’s emergency committee, an independent group of experts that drew up the recommendations, will meet in three months to assess the countries’ actions, or sooner if needed.

The steps published on Monday were the minimum actions that could be taken without unnecessarily disrupting travel or trade, but much stronger measures could have been recommended, Aylward said. Those include full vaccination programmes, restrictions on more countries and recommendations on countries of arrival.

The WHO says 10 million people are walking today thanks to efforts to wipe out the disease, which mainly affects children under five years old. It says economic models show eradicating polio would save at least $40-50 billion over the next 20 years.

Polio passes easily from person to person and can spread rapidly among children, especially in the kind of unsanitary conditions endured by displaced people in war-torn regions, refugee camps and areas where health care is limited.

The virus invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours. The WHO has repeatedly warned that as long as any single child remains infected with polio, children everywhere are at risk.

There is no cure for the disease but it can be prevented by immunisation. The polio vaccine, administered multiple times, can protect a child for life.

By Tim Cocks

The Islamist militant group Boko Haram claimed responsibility on Monday for the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in northeast Nigeria last month and threatened to “sell them on the market”, the French news agency AFP reported, citing a video.

Boko Haram on April 14 stormed an all-girl secondary school in the village of Chibok, in Borno state, then packed the teenagers, who had been taking exams, onto trucks and disappeared into a remote area along the border with Cameroon.

The brazenness and sheer brutality of the school attack shocked Nigerians, who have been growing accustomed to hearing about atrocities in an increasingly bloody five-year-old Islamist insurgency in the north.

“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,” Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau said in the video, according to AFP, which is normally the first media outlet to get hold of Shekau’s videos.

It did not immediately give further details.

Boko Haram, now seen as the main security threat to Africa’s leading energy producer, is growing bolder and extending its reach. The kidnapping occurred on the same day as a bomb blast, also blamed on Boko Haram, that killed 75 people on the edge of Abuja and marked the first attack on the capital in two years.

The militants, who say they are fighting to reinstate a mediaeval Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria, repeated that bomb attack more than two weeks later in almost exactly the same spot, killing 19 people and wounding 34 in the suburb of Nyanya.

The girls’ abductions have been hugely embarrassing for the government and threaten to completely overshadow its first hosting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) for Africa on May 7-9.

Nigerian officials had hoped the event would highlight their country’s potential as an investment destination since it became Africa’s biggest economy after a GDP recalculation in March.

PROTESTER ARRESTED

The apparent powerlessness of the military to prevent the attack or find the girls in three weeks has triggered anger and protests in the northeast and in Abuja.

On Sunday, authorities arrested a leader of a protest staged last week in Abuja that had called on them to do more to find the girls. The arrest has further fuelled outrage against the security forces.

Naomi Mutah Nyadar was picked up by police after a meeting she and other campaigners had held with President Goodluck Jonathan’s wife, Patience, concerning the girls.

Nyadar was taken to Asokoro police station, near the presidential villa, said fellow protester Lawan Abana, whose two nieces are among the abductees.

Police were not immediately available to comment on the incident, but a presidency source said Nyadar had been detained because she had falsely claimed to be the mother of one of the missing girls. Abana said she had made no such claim.

In a statement, Patience Jonathan denied local media reports that she had ordered Nyadar’s arrest but urged the protesters in Abuja to go home, the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria said.

“You are playing games. Don’t use school children and women for demonstrations again. Keep it to Borno, let it end there,” the agency quoted her as saying.

More protests are planned from 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) on Monday. These could become a major headache for the government if they continue and coincide with the WEF event, where security arrangements will involve some 6,000 army troops.

In a televised “media chat” late on Sunday, President Jonathan pledged that the girls would soon be found and released, but also admitted he had no clue where they were.

“Let me reassure the parents and guardians that we will get their daughters out,” he said, adding that extra troops had been deployed and aircraft mobilised in the hunt for the girls.

By Constantinos Psillides

HEALTH MINISTER Philippos Patsalis promised on Monday to promote natural birth in low risk-pregnant women, in an attempt to deal with the unusually high number of caesarean sections in Cyprus.

According to Patsalis, 51 per cent of pregnant women in Cyprus opt for a caesarean section, over three times the percentage set by World Health Organisation. According to WHO, caesarean sections should only account for 12-15 per cent of the total births.

In a speech read at the start of the “Promotion and Support of Natural Births” campaign, the minister promised that low-risk pregnant women would be informed regarding natural birth, “so as to accept and embrace it as a natural event in their life”.

The minister added that he will be taking into consideration the creation of a “natural birth room” in all hospitals, as suggested by the Cyprus Nurses and Midwives (CNM) association. This would be equipped with information material regarding natural births.

Patsalis said that in recent years, in cooperation with hospital services and the CNM, the ministry had drafted a national strategy on the benefits of breast feeding and established protocols that govern the midwife profession.

The “C-section mentality” was discussed on February 14 before the House health committee. MPs from all parties concluded then that the ministry should start a campaign on informing women about natural birth. AKEL MP Stella Misiaouli attributed the trend in C-section births “to a lack of information and a mentality which exists in pregnant women.. It has been proven that a large number of women ask to undergo C-sections themselves”.

The MPs had said then that they hoped that the “C-section mentality” was due to lack of information and not that pregnant women were being talked into “an easy birth” because the procedure is expensive and thus lucrative for private hospitals.

By Aleksandar Vasovic and Maria Tsvetkova

Pro-Russian rebels shot down a Ukrainian helicopter in fierce fighting near the eastern town of Slaviansk on Monday, and Kiev drafted police special forces to the southwestern port city of Odessa to halt a feared westward spread of rebellion.

Ukraine said the Odessa force, based on “civil activists”, would replace local police who had failed to tackle rebel actions at the weekend. Its dispatch was a clear signal from Kiev that, while tackling rebellion in the east, it would vigorously resist any sign of a slide to a broader civil war.

Odessa, with its ethnic mix from Russians to Ukrainians, Georgians to Tatars a cultural contrast to the pro-Russian east, was quiet on Monday. Ukrainian flags flew at half mast for funerals of some of the dozens killed in clashes on Friday.

But in the east, fighting intensified around the pro-Russian stronghold of Slaviansk, a city of 118,000, where rebel fighters ambushed Ukrainian forces early in the day.

The Interior Ministry said five Ukrainian paramilitary police were killed. Separatists said four of their number had also been killed.

The sound of an air-raid siren could be heard in the centre of Slaviansk, and a church bell rang in the main square.

Russia’s foreign ministry called on Kiev to “stop the bloodshed, withdraw forces and finally sit down at the negotiating table”. It also published an 80-page report detailing “widespread and gross human rights violations” in Ukraine over the past six months for which it blamed the new government and its Western allies.

Russia denies Ukrainian and Western accusations it is seeking to undermine the country of 45 million and using special forces to lead the insurgency across the border, as it did before annexing Crimea in March.

The self-declared pro-Russian mayor of Slaviansk Vyacheslav Ponomarev told Reuters by telephone: “(The Ukrainians) are reinforcing, deploying ever more forces here. Recently there was a parachute drop… For us, they are not military, but fascists.”

Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said rebels had shot down a Ukrainian military helicopter, the fourth since Friday, with heavy machine gun fire. The helicopter crashed into a river and the crew were rescued alive, but there were no details of their condition.

Diana, 15, who lives near Slaviansk in a single-storey house at the strategic junction of the road between Kharkiv and Rostov, said she saw Ukrainian tanks fire on rebel cars. A fuel tank at a petrol station exploded and fighters fired at houses.

“My father was injured in the head by glass splinters. It’s terrifying. There’s just nowhere to live now. Everything is broken, our television, our computer; they shot at our car.”

The violence in Odessa marked a watershed for Ukraine.

It increased fears that trouble could spread to the capital in the approach to Friday’s celebrations of the Soviet victory in World War Two, an event that could kindle tensions over Kiev’s relations with its former communist masters in Moscow.

Over 40 people were killed in Friday’s clashes, the worst since pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovich fled to Moscow in February amid protests by Ukrainians demanding closer ties to Europe. Most were pro-Russians killed when the building they occupied was set ablaze by petrol bombs.

It is not clear who started the fire, but Moscow accuses Kiev of inciting violence.

On Sunday, hundreds besieged a police station where fellow pro-Moscow activists had been held since the shooting and fighting that led up to the house blaze. Police then freed 67 of them, infuriating Kiev.

“The police in Odessa acted outrageously,” Interior Minister Arseny Avakov wrote on his Facebook page. “The ‘honour of the uniform’ will offer no cover.”

He said he had sent the newly formed Kiev-1 force of “civil activists” to Odessa following the sacking of the entire Odessa force leadership.

The units Avakov referred to emerged partly from the uprising against Yanukovich early this year.

That could fuel anger among the government’s opponents, who accuse it of promoting “fascist” militant groups, such as Right Sector, that took part in the Kiev uprising over the winter.

ODESSA’S ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

Loss of control of Odessa would be a huge economic and political blow for Ukraine, a country the size of France that borders several NATO countries and harbours aspirations to join the military alliance, a primary source of concern for the Kremlin.

Many on the streets said they were shocked by the violence.

“People who brought this to our city were not and are not and will not be true citizens of Odessa,” said Alexey, 40, an ethnic Russian. “We are Odessa, and this is a special place.”

Rabbi Fichel Chichelnitsky, a, official with Odessa’s 70,000-strong Jewish community, said: “I’m hoping these deaths serve as a stern warning to everyone that this is not a game.”

Odessa, a city of a million people, with a grand history as the cosmopolitan southern gateway for the tsars’ empire, has two ports, including an oil terminal, and is a key transport hub.

Unrest there would also heighten Western concern that Ukraine, already culturally divided between an industrial, Russian-speaking east and a more westward-looking west, could disintegrate. As well as the humanitarian problems that could entail, neighbouring NATO and EU countries would face a deep crisis in relations with Moscow, which supplies much of Europe’s gas via Ukraine.

The chant “Odessa is a Russian city!” was heard at pro-Russian demonstrations through the weekend.

Many Russians agree. Founded by Empress Catherine the Great, it has played a key role in Russian imperial history.

Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein set scenes of a massacre of civilians during a 1905 uprising on the grand steps that sweep down to the port. The images from “The Battleship Potemkin” are among the most famous in cinema history.

DIPLOMACY

Diplomacy continued over the weekend.

Germany said on Sunday it was pressing for a second meeting in Geneva to bring Russia and Ukraine together with the United States and European Union. Moscow and Kiev accuse each other of wrecking an earlier accord on April 17.

Berlin said on Monday it was doing what it could to make sure a presidential election planned for May 25 went ahead.

“The election would be not just a means for stabilisation but also a strong signal for a better future for Ukraine,” Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

He said a referendum planned by pro-Russian separatists in the eastern city of Donetsk, where rebels have proclaimed a “Donetsk People’s Republic”, would increase tensions.

Certainly, failure by Kiev authorities to conduct the election in rebel-controlled eastern cities would give Moscow grounds to question the legitimacy of any government emerging, just as it challenges the present administration.

By Elias Hazou

PRESIDENT Nikos Anastastiades left for Germany on Monday on a four-day state visit for talks with Chancellor Angela Markel and senior officials.

Anastasiades and Merkel are scheduled to meet in Berlin during a working luncheon scheduled for 1pm on Tuesday, following which the two leaders will hold a joint news conference.

Tomorrow Anastasiades will see Norbert Lammert, president of the German Bundestag, and later in the day he will speak before a German foreign policy think tank. In the evening the Cypriot delegation heads off to Hamburg for meetings there with German state officials and businessmen.

The President returns on Thursday.

Government spokesman Nikos Christodoulides said the agenda of the talks in Germany revolve around four main issues: the Cyprus problem, the economy, the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and energy.

Christodoulides said the president would brief the German chancellor on the ongoing reunification talks in Cyprus, and would be asking for Berlin’s support in Nicosia’s bid to upgrade the role of the EU in the peace drive as well as pursuing confidence-building measures between the island’s two communities.

On economic issues – understood to be the main thrust of the visit – Cyprus will attempt to clinch a deal securing financial backing for Cypriot small-and-medium enterprises via a low-interest loan.

Christodoulides said the two governments had already laid the groundwork for such an agreement during preparatory contacts prior to Anastasiades’ visit.

The issue would be discussed at a scheduled meeting in Berlin between finance minister Harris Georgiades and his German counterpart Wolfgang Schauble.

Regarding the political crisis in Ukraine, Christodoulides said Cyprus and Germany are in favour of a diplomacy-based solution. Both governments are in agreement that escalating EU sanctions against Russia must be avoided.

Nicosia is concerned that the Russian-Ukrainian situation might impact tourist arrivals from both these countries.

Germany, with strong trade ties to Russia, is pressing for a second international conference to bring Russia and Ukraine together with the United States and European Union to settle the dispute.

The fourth major item on the agenda is energy, Christodoulides said, given that the Germans have “expressed interest” in a mooted natural gas liquefaction plant in Cyprus.

He did not elaborate, but was understood to be alluding to Deutsche Bank’s interest in managing the financing of the LNG facility. A delegation of the German bank was in Cyprus last month exploring possible funding options for the gas project.

Meanwhile political parties had their own ideas about what the president should discuss with the German Chancellor.

In a statement, opposition DIKO urged Anastasiades to press the matter of Cypriot banks’ high level of non-performing loans (NPLs) as well as the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) credit line.

DIKO said the president must insist on a laxer definition of NPLs, as the current definition has resulted in an increase of bad loans on the banks’ balance sheets.

On the ELA issue, DIKO proposed that this funding be transformed into a long-term bond, which would allow banks to clear their books and release much-needed liquidity to the market.

By Angelos Anastasiou

FINANCE Minister Harris Georgiades defended the government’s decision to issue a six-year bond for €100 million at 6.5 per cent on Monday, saying it offered the dual aim of preparing Cyprus’ return to the international bond markets and transforming short- to medium-term debt.

The bond issue, sold last week to a British house via private placement, has been hotly contested by local political parties. Some argued it was proof of the inadequacy of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that Cyprus signed with its international lenders in exchange for a €10 billion loan, while others considered it a scandal that Cyprus sought to borrow money at 6.5 per cent when its long-term bond borrowing rate hovered around 5 per cent.

“I would like to repeat that the successful issue of the European bond – the first to a foreign investor since 2010 – constitutes a strategic action relating to the timely preparation of Cyprus’ return to the markets, as well as the need for better management and restructuring of public debt,” Georgiades said.

“A significant portion of existing debt has a high cost and short duration, as in the case of the bond issued in favour of Laiki Bank in 2012. This bond [originally issued at €1.8 billion] is currently at €2 billion, is due for repayment in 2017 and is not included in the Troika’s financing schedule.”

Georgiades also explained how medium-term borrowing of relatively small amounts can help restructure loans expiring in the short-term.

“Overall, maturing debt during the first 18 months after the programme’s completion exceeds €3 billion. Consequently, by the timely securing of complementary loans the Republic of Cyprus can manage, and gradually pay off, existing debt.”

But the finance minister appeared somewhat irked by the insinuations made against his decision to issue debt at a cost perceived higher than normal, at a time when the country’s financing needs were supposedly covered in full by the troika of international lenders, and could not resist taking a swipe at his detractors.

“Naturally, the loan agreement remains the main source of finance over the next two years,” the statement said. “But Cyprus is obliged, in parallel to the effective implementation of its adjustment programme, to prepare its return to self-sufficient borrowing.”

“I hope that everyone, and especially those responsible for Cyprus’ exclusion from the borrowing markets, will understand and support this national effort.”

THE GOVERNMENT is determined to change the police force, said Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou on Monday, speaking at the celebrations of the force’s patron saint, St Irene.

He said corruption within the police force would not be tolerated as it underwent restructuring and modernisation.

“To effectively combat crime we have to have an informed and capable police force, who can take on the responsibilities of modern day life and rise up against organised crime,” the minister said.

A 25-YEAR-OLD woman was found unconscious on Sunday night in the street of a Nicosia village, bearing injuries on her head and body.

According to a police report, the 25-year-old was spotted shortly before 10pm on Sunday on a steep downhill road, unconscious and visibly injured on her head and torso, near her place of work and residence.

Following surgery, the woman was transferred to the intensive care unit of the Nicosia General, in critical condition.

Despite discounting the possibility of criminal assault, the police report confirmed the arrest of a 31-year-old in connection to the case.

The Klirou police department and the Nicosia Crime Investigation Department continue investigations.

By Mike Collett

Liverpool blew a 3-0 lead with 12 minutes remaining to draw 3-3 with Crystal Palace in an astonishing Premier League match at Selhurst Park on Monday that almost certainly ended their hopes of a first title for 24 years.

Liverpool were seemingly coasting to victory and a three-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League with goals from Joe Allen, Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.
But Palace stormed back with two goals from Dwight Gayle and one from Damien Delaney to leave Liverpool’s title hopes hanging by a thread.

They have 81 points with one match to play while City have 80 points and two games to go plus a nine-goal better goal difference than Liverpool.
City host Aston Villa on Wednesday and West Ham United on Sunday while Liverpool’s remaining game is at home to Newcastle United on Sunday.

By Constantinos Psillides

Lower than average temperatures and heavy rainfall are expected on Thursday and Friday after the soaking the island received on Tuesday, according to the Weather Service.

The Weather Service said temperatures will fall to around 24 degrees Celsius, 3 degrees lower than the average May temperature.

Cyprus is currently being affected by a low-pressure centre moving through the region, which was responsible for the rain on Tuesday weather. It is expected to move away from the island by Saturday, with weather conditions improving.

According to the department, rainfall on Tuesday registered 6.3mm, which is equal to 30 per cent of the rainfall for May. “It was a very pleasant surprise. Late spring showers are always welcome,” said an official.

The rain caused no major problems, according to the police.

Although inconvenient, the island has good reason to be thankful for the late spring rain. Up to now the 2013-2014 water year (a water year begins at the start of September) was shaping up to be the worst since 1901.

According to the Water Development Department’s Faidros Roussis, droughts in Cyprus usually last for two to three years. “If the drought goes on, we will be faced with some tough decisions next year or two years from now,” Roussis said.

Despite the lack of rainfall the dams are almost half full, at 48 per cent capacity. Dam capacity is still at a high level due to excellent rainfall over the previous two years.

Cyprus faced acute water shortages due to persistent droughts in 2008, as a result of which the government had to impose extended water cuts and import water from Greece to alleviate the problem.

By Angelos Anastasiou

TROIKA officials kicked off their fourth review of the island’s economic adjustment programme on Tuesday by discussing progress on the controversial National Health Scheme with Health Minister Philippos Patsalis.

Last Friday, the Health Ministry submitted the roadmap to self-sustainability for public healthcare facilities and the overall implementation of the NHS.

Patsalis explained to the troika that the roadmap “records detailed steps to be made, legislation, decrees, regulations and other actions relating to the NHS, as well as the reform of public healthcare facilities and the ministry, so that the timeframe for the gradual implementation of the NHS in 2015 to full implementation in 2016 can be met.”

The troika delegation also met the Cyprus Association of Research and Development Pharmaceutical Companies (KEFEA), the association representing multinational pharmaceuticals in Cyprus. This meeting focused on the implementation timeframes of the NHS, drug pricing under the new health scheme and patients’ access to medicine.

Speaking after the meeting, KEFEA board member Kyriacos Mikellis said opinions were exchanged on these issues, adding that “we don’t want Cyprus to implement something that is not implemented anywhere else.”

“We want something workable that can work in favour of patients,” he said.

On the issue of drug pricing, Mikellis said that under the NHS there will be a list of drugs that will be reimbursed from the health system’s budget.

“We believe that this list should be prepared by an independent body that will follow transparent procedures,” he said.

The Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) delegation also had a session at the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC), the first in a series of meetings which are scheduled to last until May 12.

CBC spokesperson Aliki Stylianou said Tuesday’s meeting was to “review developments in the banking sector as well as the oversight framework governing the operation of banks.”

Additionally, developments relating to the restrictions on capital flow and commercial banks’ adherence to the CBC’s new directives were on the table, as well as progress made by lenders in arrears management.

Further meetings were held with the Consumers’ Association and the Borrowers’ Protection Association, who would be given the chance to express their opinions and observations with regard to restrictions on capital flow and loan restructuring.

She added that meetings throughout the week will focus on issues of implementation of loan restructuring options in financial institutions, under the caveat that the agenda may be adjusted on a daily basis.

The troika delegates also met employers’ groups. Non-performing loans (NPLs), scarce liquidity and efforts to revitalise the economy were discussed, with the troika stressing the need for the urgent voting of comprehensive legislation governing repossessions of primary residences and insolvency.

Speaking after the meeting, the chairman of the employers’ association (OEV) Filios Zachariades said growing unemployment was discussed as it related to “the scarce liquidity in the market that inhibits the expansion of businesses, or the starting up of new ones, thus creating new jobs.”

Asked whether the prospect of a legislative initiative to counter the growing number of NPLs was discussed, Zachariades said that this was not a matter of legislation.

“There will be a Europe-wide directive on the calculation of NPLs in November, which we will implement,” he said.

OEV’s director Michalis Pilikos said the troika focused on expediting the passing of comprehensive – as opposed to fragmentary – legislation on NPLs, noting that the troika made a “special mention to protecting primary residences, an issue of great importance to them.”

Asked about the issue of splitting the Bank of Cyprus into a good and bad bank, Pilikos said the troika’s view is that “regardless of what happens, or how, the NPLs are there and splitting the bank will not resolve the issue.”

“The point is to find a way for these loans to be repaid somehow,” he said.

By Constantinos Psillides

PRESIDENT Nicos Anastasiades has asked Turkish Cypriots to “trust him”, adding in an interview with Turkish daily Hurriyet, that his vision for Cyprus resembles that of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King.

“A dream in which my kids and grandsons live in a country where they are evaluated on their personalities and principles, not their national roots or religions,” he explained.

Anastasiades went on to say he comes from a village where Turkish and Greek Cypriots lived together. “My family had brotherly ties with families that I respect and appreciate. As a citizen of Cyprus and a Cypriot politician, I want the nation to unite,” the president said, adding that his father, Chrysanthos Anastasiades, saved Turkish Cypriots from Greek Cypriot fanatics in 1974 when he was working as a commissary at the village of Silikou, Limassol.

Anastasiades also said he didn’t want to imagine a scenario in which the two sides fail to reach an agreement, noting that it will be “a day of mourning, anger and shame when a deadlock is officially announced. Each day passing without a solution is a day of sadness for Cypriots.

“For more than 40 years, we Cypriots haven’t been able to achieve simple things. Uniting our island and people, healing past wounds and accepting our mistakes,” said the president, admitting that reaching a solution will be difficult.

Asked about his opinion on Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Anastasiades said he met him four to five times in the past and that he left him with a positive impression, despite their political differences.

“If I were to meet with him, I would tell him that the Cyprus problem needs to be solved for all our sakes. Solution will benefit Turkey as well, as the country’s shoulders are burdened with a heavy financial and political load. There is a chance before us. It is our duty to utilise it,” said Anastasiades.

Asked on Turkey’s EU accession process, the president said: “Turkey’s moving away from the EU does not serve our interests. We have a thousand reasons to want our neighbor to be closer to Europe and not one reason to isolate them”.

By Jean Christou

NEGOTIATORS from both sides met on Tuesday for their first meeting on substantive issues, which were property and the federal executive.

Greek Cypriot negotiator Andreas Mavroyiannis and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Kudret Ozersay met under UN auspices for five hours. No statements were made.

The pair had met on Monday to iron out procedures so they could save time during Tuesday’s lengthy session for more substantive work.

According to a UN statement “they entered into substantive negotiations on federal public service, federal competences and property”. They agreed to continue the negotiations on these and other issues at their next meeting on Tuesday, May 13.

In the meantime, a meeting of the property experts of the two sides will take place on Friday this week. The UN said it would also meet bilaterally with the two negotiators to prepare for their next joint meeting.

The meeting came a day after the visit to the island by UN Undersecretary for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, whose presence on the island at the start of what is being deemed the second phase of negotiations, is seen as significant.

“The fact that Feltman carried out his visit to Cyprus earlier than originally planned, and that his visit coincided with the beginning of the substantive talks is an indicator of his personal engagement with the process,” Ozersay was quoted as saying Tuesday.

He said it would be beneficial if Feltman visited more often. “That would contribute to sustaining the momentum we achieved,” he said.

“It is very important that a top UN official is engaged with the process. Of course the main principles are on the table. As it was stated in the joint declaration it is the Turkish Cypriots and the Greek Cypriots who will negotiate this but the UN’s interest will definitely motivate both sides in reaching a settlement”.

Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu said if both sides came to the meetings prepared, it would be possible to conclude discussions on the chapter currently on the table.

“We mentioned our proposal to the UN Undersecretary Jeffrey Feltman in which we propose that with regard to each chapter, the negotiators reach a consensus to be approved by the leaders. We are now expecting Mr Mavroyiannis to convey our proposal to Mr Anastasiades,” said Eroglu.

Eroglu said Feltman shared the same belief that the negotiations could be completed and a settlement reached within a year.

By Jean Christou

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel would favour more EU involvement in the Cyprus settlement process, she said on Tuesday after meeting President Nicos Anastasiades in Berlin.

She also offered Germany’s administrative and technical assistance on economic issues. The two leaders also discussed EU sanctions against Russia over Crimea, on which Anastasiades expressed his concerns when it came to the implications these might have on the island’s crippled economy.

Anastasiades met Merkel at a working lunch following an official welcome ceremony to mark his four-day official visit, the first by a Cypriot President in nearly 25 years.

At a joint news conference after the lunch, Merkel said the pair had a very intensive discussion on the various issues “which concern our two countries”.

“We discussed the fact that the Cypriot side expects a greater commitment from the EU [in the Cyprus negotiations] and we will do everything we can to promote this,” said Merkel. “We believe and we want this process to be quick, fast, and soon lead to success.”

During the subsequent Q&A she said for success to be achieved it was important the EU undertook an active role.

She added that confidence-building measures would be helpful and “obviously can contribute to the better conducting of the negotiations.

“Politically, there are too many reasons giving impetus to this process,” said Merkel.

Anastasiades said Merkel had been very understanding that the ongoing political situation in Cyprus was also hurting Europe. He reiterated that confidence building measures would give the process a new dynamic.

On the economic situation in Cyprus, Merkel said: “I know only too well the sacrifices made by the Cypriot people and I know how many difficulties exist in making these structural changes. This is why Germany wants to help,” she said.

The Chancellor said discussions were currently underway between the finance ministries in both countries regarding financial support for small and medium-sized businesses.

“Also if there is a need for administrative or technical support we are willing to provide this,” she added.

Anastasiades said he had reaffirmed to the German Chancellor, Cyprus’ determination to consistent implementation of the economic adjustment programme “especially in relation to public finances”.

He said he had highlighted the problems of small businesses, and was deeply concerned about unemployment, particularly among the younger generation.

The President also expressed his concerns to Merkel about EU sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, given the level of dependency Cyprus has on Russian business.

“The EU must allow each of its member-states the freedom to choose separately, without ignoring the EU policies, the measures which will not create situations that aggravate the economy of its own country,” said Anastasiades.

“Nevertheless, this does not mean that certain sanctions should not be taken into consideration if they are necessary. There should simply be tactful practices by each member-state.”

He said as long as Cyprus was under the yoke of the troika memorandum, and although it was doing everything it could to recover, such sanctions would be a severe blow to efforts.

Merkel said the issue of Ukraine must not be resolved by military means. “We must exhaust all diplomatic avenues,” she said. “The issue is not sanctions as an end in itself but to find solutions that are possible without actually having to impose sanctions. However, and it should be clear that there is a need to be prepared to impose sanctions. ”

But she also said the individual concerns of member states – depending on their own dealings and ties with Russia – should not be overlooked.

“We have asked the European Commission, which is working in this direction to see how differently affected or harmed member states might be. We know each country has a different dependency so therefore we must on the one hand have the possibility of taking action but we also need to know the impact.”

She said there were six member states 100 per cent dependent on oil from Russia, while others were 50 per cent dependent in terms of energy supply. “Smart solutions to avoid escalation are necessary,” said Merkel. “Unfortunately the developments are not encouraging and are in fact discouraging, but we support the diplomatic approach.”