UN EXPERTS CLEAR LEDRA OF MINES

PanARMENIAN.Net
27.03.2008 13:41 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A team of experts of the United Nations Peacekeeping
Forces in Cyprus (UNFICYP) began sweeping the area in the buffer zone,
at Ledra street, one of Nicosia’s main commercial streets, dividing
the Turkish and Greek areas of the republic.

UN sources have said that a six member team is on site, wearing special
uniforms and trying to locate mines and remove them to ensure safe
passage for pedestrians, once the crossing point opens.

The work is a first step in efforts to see if Ledra street can
open. The procedure is expected to be completed within the day,
Euronews reports.

The opening of a crossing point at Ledra street was decided by Cypriot
President Demetris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali
Talat on 21 March during their first meeting since the former assumed
the presidency of the republic.

Cyprus has been divided and some 17 thousand mines have been planted
since 1974.