S/PV.5465 Security Council

There were 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 1687 (2006). I shall now give the floor to those members of the Council who wish to make statements following the voting.

My delegation has just voted in favour of resolution 1687 (2006), which extends the mandate of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus for a further six-month period, because it considers that the presence of the Peacekeeping Force on the island continues to be indispensable and imperative owing to the continuing presence of approximately 40,000 Turkish troops on the island and the security threat that that represents for international peace and security. There is no doubt that it is our common wish and desire around this table that a just and permanent solution be found to the problem of Cyprus on the basis of Security Council resolutions so that the island can be reunified and the two communities can enjoy a common future, to the benefit of the maintenance of peace and security both on the island and in the region. The Secretary-General is about to dispatch the Under-Secretary-General of Political Affairs to the region in an attempt to strengthen the ongoing efforts on the ground and to assess the political situation in and around Cyprus and the prospects for a full resumption of his good offices mission with the two communities. We regret to note, however, that the text adopted here today unfortunately does not convey a sufficiently clear and strong message as to the basis, the scope and the objectives of United Nations efforts for a fair and lasting settlement of the problem of Cyprus. That is why Greece had insisted on the need to clarify, in the sixth preambular paragraph — in which the Council urges “progress towards the resumption of negotiations for a comprehensive settlement” — that it should be reaffirmed that those negotiations have to take place between the two communities.

There are no more speakers on my list. The Security Council has thus concluded the present stage of its consideration of the item on its agenda.