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Nicosia (AFP) Feb 8, 2011 The Elders group of retired statesmen said on Tuesday they were "disappointed" with the lack of progress in talks between Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot leaders on reunifying the Mediterranean island. "We are not as upbeat as we were two and a half, one and a half years ago," Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa said after talks with President Demetris Christofias, the head of the island's internationally recognised Greek-Cypriot government. "We want to continue to encourage the leadership of the two communities: 'Please find one another'," he said. Tutu and former Norwegian prime minister Gro Harlem Brundtland are making their fourth visit to Cyprus on behalf of the Elders to launch a film about Cypriots who disappeared during the nearly five decades of communal conflict which have divided the island. The latest round of UN-sponsored reunification talks was launched to great fanfare in September 2008 but has made little tangible progress amid deadlock on core issues including property rights, territorial adjustments and security guarantees. "In a way, when you compare, I have to say it is much of disappointment that it seems to be more stalemate, maybe even on some issues we are going backwards," said Brundtland. "But this sometimes happens in these kinds of situations. It does not mean that it is not possible to solve. I am convinced that it is possible that a settlement can be made," she said. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has personally intervened to try and inject some momentum into the peace process. He held a meeting with Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu in Geneva last month at which he declared some progress had been made but called for more serious work to be done. Ban is expected to file a formal progress report at the end of the month. Christofias and Eroglu are to hold their first round of talks since the Geneva meeting on Wednesday and are expected to heed Ban's call for an intensification of their talks. Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at union with Greece. A UN peacekeeping force has been deployed on the island since shortly after communal disturbances first erupted at the end of 1963.
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