United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus

UNFICYP
operation area	Cyprus
German name	United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
English name	United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
Based on UN resolution	186 (March 4 1964)
Other UN resolutions	1986 (2011) 2369 (2017)
Beginning	March 1964
status	ongoing
management	Elizabeth Spehar (since June 11, 2016)
Military out
Police off
Deaths	183
costs	$ 55.56 million (July 2016 - June 2017)
Location of the operational area

The English United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus shortly UNFICYP , German United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus was on the basis of Resolution 186 of the UN Security Council , created 4 March 1964 to the conflict on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus , a resurgence of fighting between the to prevent the Greek and Turkish ethnic groups and to restore law and order.

Since the worsening of the conflict in 1974, the UN peacekeeping force has been monitoring the ceasefire agreement of August 16, 1974 and the ceasefire line, which has been expanded into a buffer zone .

Since then, the UNFICYP's mandate has been repeatedly extended by the Security Council; In recent years this has been done regularly twice a year for an additional six months each time. According to UN Security Council Resolution 2537 (2020) - adopted on July 28, 2020 - the current mandate runs until January 31, 2021.

UNFICYP is currently the third oldest ongoing UN peacekeeping mission .

The Ledra Palace Hotel in Nicosia serves as the headquarters ; there are also larger camps in Larnaka and Famagusta .

staff

On June 11, 2016, UN official Elizabeth Spehar ( Canada ) took over the management of UNFICYP from her predecessor Lisa Buttenheim ( United States ) as special representative of the UN Secretary-General . Major General Cheryl Pearce ( Australia ) has been in command of the military since November 2018 .

The number of initially over 6,000 blue helmet soldiers has since fallen sharply. As of January 31, 2014, the mission still had 1,047 members, including 855 troops , 67 police officers and 149 civilian employees.

Losses: 183 people including 172 military personnel, 3 police officers, 6 international and 2 local civil servants. (As of June 30, 2018)

Force Commander

No.	Surname	nationality	Beginning of the appointment	End of appointment	Remarks
1.	General Gyani	India	March 1964	June 1964
2.	General KS Thimayya	India	June 1964	Dec 1965	Deceased in action.
3.	interim: Brigadier General AJ Wilson	United Kingdom	Dec 1965	May 1966	Deputy Force Commander.
4th	Lieutenant General IAE Martola	Finland	May 1966	Dec 1969
5.	Lieutenant General Dewan Prem Chand	India	Dec 1969	Dec 1976
6th	Maj. Gen. JJ Quinn	Ireland	Dec 1976	March 1981
7th	Major General Günther G. Greindl	Austria	March 1981	Apr. 1988
8th.	Major General Clive Milner	Canada	Apr. 1988	Apr 1992
9.	Maj. Gen. Michael F. Minehane	Ireland	Apr 1992	Aug 1994
10.	Brigadier General Ahti Toimi Vartiainen	Finland	Aug 1994	Feb 1997
11.	?
12.	Major General Victory Rana	Nepal	Dec 1999	Dec 2001
13.	Lieutenant General Jin Ha Hwang	Republic of Korea	Jan. 2002	Dec 2003
14th	Major General Hebert Figoli	Uruguay	Jan. 2004	Jan. 2006
15th	Major General Rafael Jose Barni	Argentina	March 2006	March 2008
16.	Rear Admiral Mario Sánchez Debernardi	Peru	Apr 2008	Dec 2010
17th	Major General Chao Liu	People's Republic of China	Jan. 2011	Aug. 2014
18th	Major General (f) Kristin Lund	Norway	Aug. 2014	July 2016	Later Head of Mission at UNTSO .
19th	Major General Mohammad Humayun Kabir	Bangladesh	Aug 2016	July 2018
20th	Major General (w) Cheryl Pearce	Australia	Nov 2018	officiating

financing

Part of the UN buffer zone in the old town of Nicosia

The budget for the period 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2014 amounts to 56,604,300 US dollars . Financing problems since the beginning are the main reason for the ongoing troop withdrawal. In contrast to comparable UN peace missions, which are financed through compulsory contributions from the regular UN budget, a financing scheme for the deployment of the blue helmets in Cyprus was based solely on voluntary contributions. Greece and Turkey paid half of the costs, the sending countries 70 percent of the second half. The remaining 30 percent should be covered by voluntary contributions from other UN member states.

Buffer zone

Buffer zone controlled by the UN (light blue)

When Cyprus was divided into a southern part and a northern part occupied by the Turkish army in 1974 , the conflict between Greece and Turkey intensified , as it was also about territorial claims in the eastern Mediterranean .

In the old town of Nicosia the armistice line is only six meters wide, in rural areas it is seven kilometers in places. Overall, the area of ​​the neutralized zone amounts to three percent of the total island area of ​​Cyprus. The length of the armistice line is 180 kilometers and extends from Kato Pyrgos in the west to Famagusta in the east. This Greenline must not be changed on any side, although attempts have been made again and again to make small changes.

This so-called buffer zone is divided into three sectors. Sector 1 extends from Kato Pyrgos to Nicosia, Sector 2 forms the capital Nicosia and Sector 4 (not 3) is called the zone between Nicosia and Famagusta.

Observer Points

Observer Point 65 (Paphos Gate) in the old town of Nicosia

Observer points have been established along the ceasefire line to facilitate 24/7 monitoring of the ceasefire agreement . In addition, patrols are carried out on foot and with vehicles.

In the case of OPs, a distinction is made between fixed OPs and OPTs (for temporary). The latter are only approached during patrols and manned for a certain period of time (up to an hour). A group (six men according to Anglo-American standards) is located in an operating theater and maintains accommodation (partly containers divided into so-called “cabins”, partly in brick buildings), living rooms and a sentry box. Most of the operating theaters are lightly armored (barbed wire fence, sandbag positions) and lightly armed (a maximum of two machine guns).

The OPs and OPTs are numbered (up to OP-146 at the easternmost point of the buffer zone) and are usually named by the team based on their appearance or their location.

literature

• Gerhard Buchinger: UNFICYP and UNEF II experiences . In: Christian Segur-Cabanac , Wolfgang Etschmann (ed.): 50 years of foreign missions of the Austrian Armed Forces (= writings on the history of the Austrian Armed Forces ). Published by the General Staff of the Federal Ministry for National Defense and Sport and the Army History Museum , Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-9502653-1-6 , pp. 511 ff.

Web links

Commons : United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Official website of UNFICYP (English)
• Cyprus Talks website
• Committee for the missing persons in Cyprus (English)
• Overview of UN resolutions affecting Cyprus

Individual evidence

1. ↑ https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/mission/unficyp
2. ↑ Resolution 2537 (2020). UN, July 28, 2020, accessed August 18, 2020 . 
3. ^ Website of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, accessed July 29, 2019.
4. ^ Announcement of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, accessed on July 29, 2019.
5. ↑ https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/personnel-appointments/2018-11-08/major-general-cheryl-pearce-australia-force-commander
6. ↑ Approved resources for peacekeeping operations for the period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014