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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled a revised Cyprus peace plan on Monday in the Swiss resort of Buergenstock.
The plan, Annan's latest attempt to find a deal that will reunite the island before it joins the European Union on May 1, is being presented to the four parties concerned -- Greece, Turkey, the Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots -- at a formal ceremony Monday morning.
According to sources involved in the talks, the plan includes a proposed five percent reduction in the area of land held by Turkish Cypriots to 29 percent and a reduction in the number of Greek Cypriots allowed to settle in the Turkish part of northern Cyprus.
But the main thrust of the plan is for Cyprus to be governed under a loose federal system with large degrees of autonomy on domestic affairs for both communities.
If the sides fail to reach accord on the plan by Wednesday's deadline, Annan has a mandate to fill in any disputed gaps. Either way, the plan will go to separate referenda in the two Cypriot communities on April 20.
Opinion polls show many Cypriots see economic attractions in a united Cyprus going into the EU, but that each side is wary of any deal that gives away too much to the other on issues such as freedom of movement on the island and property ownership.
Cyprus has been divided into the Turkish-Cypriot north and the Greek-Cypriot south since 1974 when Turkish troops entered the north of the island after a failed Greek-Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.
Negotiations between Greek-Cypriots and Turkish-Cypriots, under the UN's auspices, resumed in Nicosia last month, but failed to achieve any results in the first phase which ended on March 22.
The second phase of the talks switched to Switzerland on March 24, with the participation of the Greek and Turkish leaders.
(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2004)
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