NICOSIA, Sept 29 (AFP) - Greek Cypriot Foreign Minister George Iacovou said Wednesday the situation on the ground did not justify a proposed cutback in the number of UN peacekeeping forces on divided Cyprus.
The government was aware UN experts who carried out a fact-finding mission last month had recommended a reduction of the force, although the status of the mission would remain unchanged, he told Cyprus radio from Brussels.
He said the position of the internationally-recognised Greek Cypriot government in Nicosia was that neither troop numbers nor the mission's key role should be altered.
"Nothing has changed on the ground," he said, as the northern third of the island was still occupied by some 30,000 Turkish troops.
UN chief Kofi Annan is expected within days to submit his recommendation on the peacekeeping operation to the Security Council.
The UN experts have recommended the 1,200-strong peacekeeping force in Cyprus should be whittled down by a third but the 40-year-old mission should not be dismantled, a Greek Cypriot newspaper reported earlier this week.
Phileleftheros, quoting the leaked report, said a number of UN observation posts along the 180-kilometre (110-mile) ceasefire line would be scrapped and replaced by mobile units, reflecting an easing of tensions.
Annan called for the review after his peace plan to reunite the island collapsed when it was overwhelmingly rejected by Greek Cypriots in an April referendum, although it was endorsed by the rival Turkish Cypriots.
The United Nations Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) is the world's longest serving peacekeeping force and was sent to the island in 1964 to restore and maintain order after fierce intercommunal clashes.
It has stayed ever since and now patrols the ceasefire line drawn up in 1974 after Turkey invaded the north of the island in response to a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.
But Annan has said that due to the "disappointing" April vote, which saw a divided Cyprus join the EU in May, an overall reappraisal of peacekeeping activities on the island was needed.
Britain, Argentina and Slovakia are UNFICYP's main troop contributors but the Greek Cypriot government foots a third of the annual bill of 47.4 million dollars. The force's current six-month mandate expires in mid-December.