Cyprus reunification talks are at a
"very difficult point," Cypriot government spokesman Mr Michalis Papapetrou said today when asked if negotiations are at a standstill.
And an official close to the talks said they are at their lowest ebb, with rival Cypriot leaders unable to agree on an agenda as the end-of-June target date for a breakthrough looms.
Cypriot President Glafcos Clerides and Turkish Cypriot leader Mr Rauf Denktash have been holding direct talks since mid-January with few signs of the compromise needed to break the stalemate over 28 years of division.
There are only three more scheduled meetings remaining, with the last round stretched beyond the deadline to July 2nd.
Cyprus is a leading candidate for joining an enlarged European Union by 2004, but Ankara has threatened to annex the Turkish-occupied northern third if Cyprus joins the EU before a political settlement is reached.
A 1974 coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece prompted an invasion by Turkish troops.
AFP