Big Donations Bring Cyprus Force Nearer

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30389, 13 March 1964, Page 13

Big Donations Bring Cyprus Force Nearer

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright)

NEW YORK, March 12. Prospects for the establishment of a United Nations peace force for Cyprus improved sharply today after the United Nations Secretary-General (U Thant) reported that financial obstacles had been overcome.

The Governments of Austria, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Ireland and Sweden are expected to reply during the day to his request that they provide contingents, and informed sources said there was a good chance the majority would agree.

Canada was reported to be ready to contribute 1000 men while Sweden’s condition that she should not be the only neutral nation to send troops was expected to be met by the agreement of Finland and possibly also Brazil to provide contingents.

Pledges last night of voluntary contributions of 2,000,000 dollars from the United States and 1,000,000 dollars from Britain and the reported possibility of at least a further 2.000,000 dollars from West Germany, Switzerland and Norway, solved the financial difficulty. U Thant is due to report to the Security Council today on the progress of his efforts to implement the council’s resolution. Informed sources said he had asked the delegates of the six potential donor nations to try to let him have their Governments’ replies to his request today. British Warning Britain has warned the United States that British troops cannot much longer carry out alone the “increasingly intolerable” task of keeping the peace in Cyprus. The Commonwealth Secretary (Mr Sandys) told Parliament yesterday that the warning had been sent to U Thant. U Thant had been asked to inform the British Government today of the progress he had made in getting a United Nations force to Cyprus without further dangerous delay and for his assessment of the prospects of success. “In the light of this reply we will review the position,” Mr Sandys said. He told Parliament that Cyprus was in a state verging on civil war. The urgent task was to stop the killings. He praised the “courage, discipline, and unbelievable patience” of the British troops there and added: “There is a limit to the dangers and indignities which we have a right to ask them to endure.” Labour Support Mr Sandys’s statement was supported by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Wilson), who said he understood the Government would consider the position urgently within the next 48 hours. Authoritative sources made

it clear that no decision on the position of British troops in Cyprus would be taken until U Thant’s reply had been received. If any withdrawal was considered at all it would be a withdrawal into Britain’s sovereign bases on the island.

Turkey yesterday warned Britain and the United States that it would intervene in Cyprus unless the United Nations peace force was sent to the Island. In Notes delivered to the British and United States Ambassadors in Ankara, Turkey expressed concern at the worsening situation in Cyprus. There were reports that the British authorities strongly urged President Makarios not to go to Athens yesterday to attend the funeral of King Paul for fear of incidents in his absence, but these appeals were ignored. In Nicosia, Mr Pier Spinelli, the United Nations special representative for Europe, has arrived to take over temporarily from Lieu-tenant-General Prem Singh Gyani, the special representative of U Thant, who is taking a week’s leave for personal reasons.

Four Greek Cypriots Who had been held as hostages by Turkish Cypriots in Nicosia since February 3 have been released. One of them said he had been physically illtreated during his detention. General Michael Carver, the British commander of the joint truce force, said their release “can do a great deal of good to help create a better atmosphere and relax the tension.”

At Kazaphani, a village in northern Cyprus, a Cyprus Government spokesman said last night there had been no ultimatum to British troops to get out of the village—it was “all a misunderstanding.” A British military spokesman said last night that no agreement has yet been reached on the entry into Ktima, south-west Cyprus, of a Red Crescent convoy carrying food and other supplies which has been held up for four days. Nicosia spent a quiet night, although tension along the border between the Turkish and Greek Cypriot quarters has been rising, the Associated Press said. British troops reported that three shots were fired during the night, but there was no other activity.