Colin Stewart

“The Personal Envoy of the UN Secretary-General, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Ms.

"The problem, like every problem in Cyprus, is political," said Colin Stewart, special representative and head of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP), referring to the recent halt to the UN's landmine neutralization efforts in the island's buffer zone.

Decades on from the ethnic division of Cyprus, tensions persist along the 180-kilometer buffer zone separating breakaway Turkish Cypriots from Greek Cypriots in the internationally recognized south, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping force on the island said Monday.

Nicosia reiterated on Thursday that it will not stand for any moves that cast doubt on the status of the UN-controlled buffer zone through which the Turkish Cypriots illegally tried to build a road last week and physically assaulted international peacekeepers who tried to obstruct them.

The Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Turkish-Cypriot Chamber of Commerce are advocating for increased trade opportunities and more efficient crossing points to enhance economic and commercial ties, according to a recent meeting discussed by the UN in Cyprus.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar discussed the issue of Cyprus on Feb. 1 with the U.N. mission chief appointed to facilitate the solution of the decades-old dispute on the divided island.