Rift Between Grivas And Makarios Grows

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28926, 20 June 1959, Page 13

Rift Between Grivas And Makarios Grows

• Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, June 19. There is now a real danger of an open rift between Archbishop Makarios and General Grivas, the Eoka chief, who is still the big hero among Cypriot patriots, says the Nicosia correspondent of the “News Chronicle.” Archbishop Makarios, he says, now represents moderation and because of this is losing his grip on the fanatics.

The withdrawal of British troops from the island is being speeded up and by the end of July half the units which are being pulled out will have gone. The correspondent says there is no rate against time to achieve the transfer of power before Cypriots fly at each other’s throats again. As the Governor, Sir Hugh Foot, has been forced to point out, he is still responsible for maintaining order until the handover. He is anxious not to call in troops for the purpose, but in an emergency he would have to.

It is a measure of the preearfousness of the situation, however, that he has had to admit publicly that the Royal Navy is now patrolling Cyprus territorial waters with redoubled vigilance

to guard against ■ fresh arms smuggling, says the correspondent.

It is believed that both Turks and Left-wing Greeks, who are preparing for a showdown with Colonel Grivas's Eoka faithful, are building up their arsenals. In a terse, open message from his exile in Athens, Colonel Grivas has warned Archbishop Makarios against making any further concessions to the Turks or to the British.

He has also complained bitterly that he is not being kept informed about the negotiations now going on in Nicosia and London over final details of the island’s new constitution.

The question of British bases on the island and whether they should include certain villages or not is being deliberately whipped up by extremists * who did not like the London agreement in the first place.