UN's Ban seeks to jump-start stalled Cyprus talks UN

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will seek to jump-start stalled Cyprus peace talks when he meets its rival leaders in Geneva today to map out a push to end the island's decades-long division. "The UN would like this meeting to be a game changer with a commitment to maximize effort and for the leaders to deliver on what they have said about wanting a solution," a source close to the UN talks told AFP. "We expect the secretary-general to make some strong points about the slow progress of talks in recent months and call for an intensification of talks to overcome differences." It will be the third three-way meeting Ban has convened with Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot leaders to try to revitalize UN-backed negotiations, which have failed to live up to the international optimism that accompanied their launch in 2008. Almost three years down the line, the rival sides are not even close to securing agreement on the divisive core issues.