UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday said he was still waiting to hear from the Greek Cypriot leadership about their objections to his rejected peace plan to reunify divided Cyprus.
Greek Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis met Annan here and told reporters he had expressed Greece`s readiness to restart the peace process -- which comes after Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly voted against the Annan plan last year.
"There is a convergence now of views to the effect that we should re-start the process of reunifying the island with negotiations on the basis of the secretary general`s plan," Molyviatis said.
"We should make sure that this time there is no failure. We cannot afford another failure," he said.
But Annan spokesman Fred Eckhard said the UN chief had replied that he was awaiting a written critique of his plan, which was accepted in a parallel vote by residents of the Turkish Cypriot north of the Mediterranean island.
"He is waiting to receive this. He wants to make sure that they are on firm ground before restarting negotiations," Eckhard said. "He doesn`t want another failure."
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied the northern third of the island following a Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the island with Greece.
On April 24, 2004, voters on both sides of Cyprus held a referendum on Annan`s reunification plan, which the UN chief helped to plan over about four years.
Residents in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is recognised only by Turkey, voted in favour but the south rejected it.
Earlier this month, President Tassos Papadopoulos of the internationally recognised government in the south said he asked the United Nations to relaunch reunification talks.
But Papdopoulos urged voters to reject the Annan plan last year and has repeatedly spoken out against key elements in it, particularly its finessing of the key issue of the status of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state.
The Greek Cypriot rejection of the plan meant Cyprus was still divided when it joined the European Union last May.
03/28/2005 22:40 GMT