Problems at home force Cyprus leader to cut UK trip

Nicosia: Cyprus' president cut short his official visit to London on Friday because of problems that forced a brief closure of a crossing between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot parts of Nicosia that had just been opened for the first time in decades.

President Dimitris Christofias was returning home to handle the dispute over Ledra Street, a central Nicosia shopping street that was reopened Thursday after having been closed for 44 years, said government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou.

The street has come to symbolise the island's ethnic divide.

Greek Cypriot police shut down the crossing on Thursday night for two hours after Turkish Cypriot police were seen inside the buffer zone separating the two parts of the capital.

Government officials said Turkish Cypriot police had breached an agreement by entering the 70- metre-stretch of UN-controlled buffer zone.

"The agreement to open Ledra Street was made on clear terms. Unfortunately these terms were not respected and there was a decision to close the road," Justice Minister Kypros Chrysostomides said.

He said the crossing was reopened on assurances that Turkish Cypriot police would not re-enter the buffer zone, but warned that Ledra would again be shut down if more violations occur.

Jose Luis Diaz, the UN peacekeeping force spokesman, said the UN has received assurances enabling it to "ensure the smooth functioning of the crossing point. But it will take good will and cooperation on all sides."

Cypriots from both sides of the divide continued to cross Ledra Street yesterday, despite the earlier disruption.

Greek Cypriot police said 260 Greek Cypriots and as many Turkish Cypriots crossed Ledra from midnight to noon yesterday. The previous day nearly 1,200 Turkish Cypriots crossed southwards.

The Ledra Street opening was hailed as an significant milestone in efforts to reunify Cyprus, split along ethnic lines in 1974, when Turkey invaded in response to a short-lived coup by supporters of uniting the island with Greece.

Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat are set to begin reunification talks in June. Both have said they would seek a deal to reunify the island "as soon as possible."

Christofias was in London for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's progressive summit, weekend talks with more than a dozen world leaders that will focus on issues such as climate change, the economy and global poverty.

Christofias' aide, George Iacovou, will represent the Cypriot president at the summit.