NICOSIA - Washington's new Cyprus envoy arrived on the divided island Thursday to encourage both sides to take steps to restart UN-sponsored peace talks.
"My goal here over the next few days ... is to explore ideas on the way forward," said Laura Kennedy, deputy assistant secretary for European Affairs, who has taken over as the State Department's Cyprus coordinator.
Settlement talks have been shelved since Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification plan in April 2004 that a majority of Turkish Cypriots backed.
UN chief Kofi Annan has called on the Greek Cypriot side to outline changes it wants to the plan before he considers resuming a new round of peace talks, but that has not happened.
"The United States supports a bizonal, bicommunal federal solution based on
the Annan Plan," Kennedy said, adding that the mission of good offices has been suspended until Annan "determines that conditions warrant a return to negotiations.
"I intend to discuss this issue and encourage the kinds of action necessary to re-start UN-led efforts," she added.
Kennedy will meet with Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos later Thursday and then cross the divide to meet Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat on Friday. She has already traveled to Athens and Ankara.
Washington has criticised Papadopoulos for publicly urging Greek Cypriots to reject the Annan Plan.
Relations have been further strained over Washington's eagerness to lift Turkish Cypriots out of economic isolation and instigate some form of direct trade with the north, which is only legally recognised by Ankara.
Cyprus has also tried to block any direct trade initiative put forward by Brussels, arguing that everything must go through the internationally recognised Cypriot government.
The failure of the UN plan to be approved ensured that only the Greek Cypriot south joined the European Union on May 1, 2004.
Kennedy said it was now up to both communities to produce a catalyst for peace.
"We are prepared to facilitate agreement and support implementation of a solution, but the initiative will have to come from Cypriots rather than outsiders."
The island has been split into two ethnic zones since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third following a Greek Cypriot coup seeking union with Greece.
05/05/2005 12:33 GMT