Cyprus Force mandate extended through 15 December 1988.

The Security Council on 15 June extended the mandate of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) for six months until 15 December 1988. In adopting resolution 614 (1988) unanimously, the body also asked that Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar continue his mission of good offices and that all parties concerned continue to co-operate with the Force "on the basis of the present mandate".

The Secretary-General told the Council that it was more important than ever that UNFICYP continue to fulfil it "indispensable" role. The Force was created in 1964 to help prevent a recurrence of fighting and restore normal conditions to the island. With a total strength of 2,092 troops, it supervises cease-fire lines and performs humanitarian tasks. UNFICYP is under the command of Major-General Gunther G. Greindl of Austria.

Mr. Perez de Cuellar said that conditions were becoming ripe to break free from the impasse that for the last two years had blocked his mission. His Special Representative Oscar Camilion had recently presented to the two sides specific suggestions envisaging an early meeting between the two leaders at which they would agree to enter, without pre-conditions, into urgent discussions with the aim of achieving, by an agreed target date, an over-all settlement on the basis of the 1977 and 1979 high-level agreements. Both leaders having reassured him of their desire to resume the negotiating process and to co-operate with him, the Secretary-General hoped that they will seize this opportunity and accept his proposal.

Mr. Pdrez de Cuellar did riot underestimate the difficulties that lay ahead. Every effort must be made to overcome existing distrust and to build confidence between the two sides, They must be encouraged to show respect for each other's concern and to discuss with good will how those concertis could be met.

Contact should be re-established . . .

The Secretary-General stressed that there must be no further attempts to change the status quo 

and the language of" public statements should be moderated. Contacts, at every level, should be rc-established between the two communities which had been growing apart at a distressing rate. Great benefits would be derived if' Turkey would make a start by reducing its troops in the island's northern part, and he appealed to Turkey to take that step.

A time of tension. . . a time of hope

The Secretary-General, stating it was a time of both tension and hope in Cyprus, reported on two unconnected shootings oil 21 and 28 May, the first such serious incidents in the UN fluffer zone in many years. One restilted in the death of a Turkish Cypriot civilian and the woundings of two UNFICYP personnel from the Austrian contingent. The second resulted in the deaths of a Turkish soldier and a Greek Cypriot soldier.

A new practice

The Secretary-General also reported on what he called a serious threat to the status quo resulting from a Turkish Cypriot decision in mid-April to require certain categories of' Cypriots and foreign natloinals passing between the northern and southern parts of' the island to present passports for stamping.

The Cyprus Government protested that the new practice, which it said purported to establish at the crossing point procedures appropriate to an international frontier, was contrary to Security Council resolution 541 (1983). Mr. Perez de Cuellar said he shared that assessment and urged Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash to restore the status quo without delay. The Secretary-General also urged that nothing be done to change the island's demographic composition.

The Secretary-General again expressed his concern about the worsening financial situation of

UNFICYP. The accumulated deficit in the UNFICYP Special Account was expected to be $158.1 million in mid -June. He said that he remained of the view that the best way of placing the financing of UNFICYP on a more equitable basis would be for the United Nations share of the costs of the Force to be financed from assessed combinations an(] he expressed the hope that in due course the members of' the Security Council will agree to this overdue reform.