Less than a week after leaders on the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus agreed to open up a barricaded pedestrian street in central Nicosia, UN demining experts started checking the area for booby traps on Wednesday. ( dpa )
In a move intended to relaunch reunification talks, Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat agreed last week to meet again in three months, to establish working groups and technical committees and to open up the Ledra Street crossing point in central Nicosia.
Ledra Street, which has come to symbolize the island's division, is a busy pedestrian thoroughfare marking the dividing line between the ethnic Greek and Turkish parts of the city.
The street has been split for decades between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish Cypriot north and its opening has become almost a litmus test for measures to bring the two communities closer and ease the way to reunification talks.
Although the wall was torn down in recent years the street remained blocked due to a controversy over military patrols in the area.
The Ledra Street crossing point, which consists of an 80-metre buffer zone, is scheduled to open either April 2 or 3, UN press official Jose Diaz told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
"UN explosives experts should be done sweeping the area for mines later this afternoon. The next step will be for the two municipalities to ensure that many of the abandoned buildings are safe and that they do not collapse on anyone."
Critics hope that the long overdue agreement to open Ledra Street will provide the momentum for further confidence-building measures.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded the northern third of the island in response to a brief Greek-inspired coup.
With a new Cypriot president in office, expectations are running high for reunification talks to resume, stalled since a UN-brokered peace plan came to nothing almost four years ago after Greek Cypriots voted no.
On Wednesday, advisors to Christofias and Talat agreed to establish as soon as possible working groups for governance and power-sharing, EU matters, security, territory, and property and economic matters.
Both sides said separate technical committees will also be established to deal with crime, commercial matters, cultural heritage, crisis management, humanitarian matters and health.
The UN-patrolled buffer zone prevented Cypriots from moving between the two sides until five crossing points opened in 2003.