The issue of the barbed-wire fence along the Nicosia dead zone to restrict migratory flows has resurfaced, with the government re-evaluating its position in light of the UN Secretary-General’s report.
According to philenews, the issue has not yet been thoroughly discussed, and no conclusion has been reached. However, competent sources claim that the issue will be handled in its entirety soon.
According to the same sources, this re-evaluation will address both the reason for the fence’s construction and the fact that it is one of the issues mentioned by the UN Secretary-General in the last two years.
It is noted that during the previous administration, in addition to the 14-kilometer fence installed in the dead zone between Astromeritis and Akaki under Nouris’ ministry, a decision was made to implement a second phase of barbed wire installation in the Athienou area, but the plan was put on hold due to a change of government.
All scheduled works have been cancelled, and it was decided to reconsider the situation in the future. Now, with the new report from Antonio Guterres on the Republic of Cyprus’s unauthorised barbed wire fence, which was installed in the buffer zone in 2021 and 2022 in response to UN protests and has yet to be removed despite previous indications, the government is pausing.
As the report says “the unauthorised 14 kilometres of concertina wire fence placed in the buffer zone by the Republic of Cyprus in 2021 and 2022, against the mission’s protests, has not been removed despite previous indications that it would be”.
Also , in a recent letter to the Greek Cypriot Leader, DISY President Annita Demetriou advocated the removal of the barbed wire barrier as one of four solutions to address the Cyprus crisis.
( Source: Philenews)
