Intercommunal phone line sabotaged

Nicosia - The intercommunal phone line, inaugurated by the US presidential envoy, Mr Richard Holbrooke, a week ago with the aim of promoting contact between ordinary Greek and Turkish Cypriots, has already been sabotaged by the Turkish Cypriot administration, Michael Jansen reports. It has charged exorbitant rates on calls and announced plans to impose international charges, as calls to the Greek Cypriot south are considered "beyond the borders" of the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state. Before the system's installation the two sides agreed that calls would be charged at domestic rates. In the first five days since the launch of the automatic system, paid for by the US and managed by the UN, 20,000 calls per day were made, greatly exceeding the estimate made by the sponsors of 750,000 calls per year. Just over 100,000 calls were made annually on the three operator-managed lines in place since the island was divided after the Turkish occupation of the north in 1974.