UN envoy says Colombia experience may help efforts in restarting Cyprus talks

A United Nations official said on Tuesday that her experience in negotiating an end to decades of conflict in her native Colombia may help her as she seeks to rekindle talks over Cyprus' ethnic division.

Maria Angela Holguin Cuellar, the UN chief's new personal envoy for Cyprus, said she believes she can work with both Greek Cypriots in the island's internationally recognized south and Turkish Cypriots in the breakaway north to get them back to the negotiating table after years of complete stalemate.

"I was part of that team that we finally reached a peace agreement" in Colombia, Holguin told reporters after her first meeting with the Greek Cypriot President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides. "And I think I can collaborate and do all my best for … a good result for Cyprus."

Holguin served as Colombia's top diplomat during 2010-2018 and as the country's...