Meer druk op Athene en Ankara om oplossing kwestie-Cyprus (en)

The UN envoy for Cyprus Alvaro de Soto warned yesterday in Athens that talks aimed at reuniting the island will not continue beyond 1 May, when the island joins the EU.

Despite this looming deadline, three weeks of talks in Nicosia between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders have not led to an agreement and both sides blame each other for the lack of progress in the negotiations.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan set a tight timetable for the talks - Greek and Turkish negotiators may step in to the talks if there is no agreement by 22 March.

If the deadlock continues, Mr Annan will settle all the remaining issues in a bid to submit the final plan to referendums in both communities on 20 April.

However, Kofi Annan admitted that talks are proceeding at a slow pace.

''The parties are moving ahead slowly", he said on Thursday.

"We will stick to the timetable that we have agreed to which also entails my own involvement if the parties do not reach an agreement between themselves by the 22nd, 23rd of March. So it is likely, yes, that I will be involved''.

But Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said he wanted more time for the negotiations.

"The issue of making us act quickly is continuing. I have said previously that haste makes waste and I repeat that the devil takes a hand in what is done in haste", he said in a TV broadcast on Wednesday.