NEW YORK - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for a reduction of the UN Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) military component to 860, down from the current 1,224 in his report which envisages extension of UNFICYP's mandate until mid-2005.
In a report to the Security Council released on Monday, the Secretary General proposes a reduction of the UNFICYP military component also offers a more mobile and efficient concept of operations.
At the same time, the Secretary General recommended that the current deployment of 45 UN civilian police live - who live within the community and perform a wide-range of local services - be increased to the mandated ceiling of 69.
The Secretary General also calls for a boost in the number of civilian affairs officers working in the mission, noting that their work has grown qualitatively as they intercede on behalf of members of one community or the other to ease specific situations.
''These practical measures will allow UNFICYP to continue to carry out the whole range of its mandated tasks, while taking into account the changed environment and achieving a more efficient utilization of resources,'' he says.
''They will also provide the basis for a further transformation of the mission, as warranted by developments on the ground, after a further review, which should take place before the end of the next mandate period, in mid-2005,'' Annan says.
(EÖ-MS) 04.10.2004