Lack of agreement reported on confidence-building package.

• Position: Greeks and Turks reject UN Sec Gen Boutros Boutros Ghali's proposals for recognition of each party's right to security

Lack of agreement has been reported on the package of confidence-building measures Presented by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to the two parties to the Cyprus situation. In a 4 April report (S/1994/380), he said that the Turkish Cypriot side had objected that the draft ideas presented on 21 March contained changes to the confidence-building measures as first presented in July 1993, and that they favoured the Greek Cypriot side. Among the measures proposed are those to open the town of Varosha and the Nicosia International Airport.

The Turkish Cypriot side cited in particular proposals on security of access between the UN-controlled buffer zone and Varosha, the arrangements concerning traffic rights at Nicosia International Airport, the implementation schedule for the package, and the collection of customs duties by the UN in both areas, the Secretary-General stated.

The Greek Cypriot side had stated that while it did not like many of the changes, it would accept the revised proposals if the Turkish Cypriot side would do likewise.

The Secretary-General said the package offered "real benefits" to both sides, and high-level contacts with them to secure an agreement would continue, he stated.

The Security Council on 11 March had stressed the need for the two parties to conclude without delay an agreement on the implementation of the confidence-building measures. Reiterating that the status quo was unacceptable, the Council welcomed the parties' acceptance in principle of the measures, and the fact that intensive discussions had allowed the Secretary-General's representatives to put forward ideas facilitating an agreement.

In unanimously adopting resolution 902 (1994), the Council reaffirmed that the measures, while not an end in themselves, would offer significant benefits to both communities and would facilitate the political process towards an overall settlement.

Opening new vistas

In a 4 March report on his mission of good offices in Cyprus (S/1994/262), the Secretary-General had called an agreement on the confidence-building measures "the most important development on the island in two decades", which would open a new and more positive vista for the future. It would, he said, produce important economic gains for both sides and promote the kind of relationship that should exist in a federation.

The Secretary-General gave a detailed account of the intensive discussions that Special Representative Joe Clark and his Deputy, Gustave...