NICOSIA, Oct 16 (AFP) - Cyprus and the United Nations were at loggerheads Saturday over comments by Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos hinting that the world body had allocated funds to support a "yes" vote in a referendum on a plan to reunify the island.
Papadopoulos's comments were the latest broadside in a war of words between the UN and the internationally-recognised government of Cyprus after the Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly voted in April to reject the plan drawn up by UN chief Kofi Annan.
Papadopoulos, a Greek Cypriot, said he had received a letter from UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto which allegedly confirmed the allocation of funds to Cyprus before the referendum.
The UN wanted to reunite the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities in Cyprus, which has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at uniting the island with Greece.
Newspapers in Cyprus interpreted Papadopoulos's comments as suggesting that the UN was funding the "yes" camp in the run-up to the vote, but the United Nations here dismissed the allegations.
"In a letter to me, de Soto refers to the allocation of funds for Cyprus prior to the referendum because the UN and others consider it to be a bi-communal effort which should be reinforced financially," said Papadopoulous who had strongly supported a "no" vote.
The UN mission in Cyprus responded with a statement saying it "has nothing to hide," and that UN agencies had been involved for decades in efforts to promote bi-communal contacts and help foster a climate of trust on the divided island.
"Such agencies have always facilitated bi-communal contact, regardless of whether those requests came from organizations or people that were for or against the secretary general's plan," it said.
Annan has publicly chided Papalopoudos for what he alleged was a disinformation campaign in the run-up to the referendum, which saw most Turkish Cypriots vote in favour of the reunification blueprint.
But a Cyprus government spokesman refused to be mollified, saying: "The United Nations has an obligaton to make public who it supported and what kind of support was offered."
After the referendums on the plan which was strongly backed by Brussels and Washington, the divided island joined the European Union on May 1, with the minority Turkish Cypriots left out in the cold.