Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-10-28

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From: The Cyprus Mail at <http://www.cynews.com/>

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Water tender deadline put back

[02] Nigerians ask to go home after weekend beatings

[03] Smoke-free plan reduced to ashes

[04] Government plans interest rate bill next month

[05] Girl's organs used in three operations

[06] 'Murder' was elaborate suicide, police say

[07] Greece's 'no' a source of inspiration for Cyprus

[01] Water tender deadline put back

Cypriots will "have to tolerate great cuts in water, greater than now," if winter rains do not replenish the island's disappearing dam water, Christos Marcoullis, acting director of the Water Development Department, warned yesterday.

Marcoullis also said the deadline for accepting tenders on either "mobile" desalination plants or imported water to see the island through the coming summer, had been postponed until November 17 at noon. It had originally been set for noon yesterday.

"Quite a lot of requests for extension" of the filing time prompted the move, he said, adding that "more than 50" businesses or individuals had already obtained application kits to submit their bids.

On Monday, Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous said he expected the island's reservoirs to run dry by December 31, if the rains fail to refill them as they failed last winter.

With reservoirs only 5.9 per cent full, and falling, the government is drilling more bore holes to help it make up for the expected shortfall if the dams do dry up, Marcoullis said.

Cyprus already gets 80 per cent of its water from groundwater, but experts warn that this supply is already dangerously overpumped. Many aquifers are bone dry, or too tainted by sea salt to be used for farming or drinking.

Besides the aquifers, the island's only other current source of drinking water is the Dhekelia desalination plant, whose total daily output of 40, 000 cubic metres of water is equivalent to the amount consumed by the city of Nicosia alone.

Government red-tape has stalled construction of the island's second desalination plant. It was slated to go on-line early in 2000, but some experts say it will not be ready before early 2001.

This has forced the government to seek bids on buying either imported water, or two "mobile" desalination plants - one to hook up to Limassol's city water supply, the other to be sited in Larnaca and emptied into the island's water pipelines.

Despite his boss's gloomy forecast, Marcoullis was optimistic that winter rains would provide the island with enough water to get through next summer.

"Even if we have a dry year like we had last year, (the remaining water sources) will be enough to sustain us until and beyond June, when the mobile desalination plants will be available," Marcoullis declared.

"It is starting to cloud over," he said optimistically of the recent grey skies - which have not yielded much so far - "so we expect some rain."

Anyone wanting to bid for the water tenders may purchase the requisite documents, in English or Greek, to bid on selling mobile desalination plants or imported water from the WDD director's office at postal code 1413 in Nicosia for a non-refundable £100.

Tenders must be submitted by noon on November 17 to the President of the Tender Board, Office of the Accountant-General (Treasury), in Nicosia. All bids will be opened immediately upon the new deadline's expiry. Bidders' representatives may attend.

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

[02] Nigerians ask to go home after weekend beatings

TWO NIGERIAN men, who were among the boat people beaten by police at the weekend, have returned to their homeland before they could be questioned by an Attorney-general's probe into allegations of police brutality, police said yesterday.

Attorney-general Alecos Markides ordered the probe after television footage of police violence against the immigrants sparked official shock, and government concern lest the footage be aired overseas - as it already has been.

Larnaca Police Chief Savvas Lardis said yesterday that "two persons have been deported" from among the 48 caught up in Friday's riot at the Larnaca detention centre.

"They expressed willingness to leave Cyprus and go home to Nigeria," he insisted, adding that "maybe" they had been beaten by rapid-reaction (Mmad) force police who stormed their cells.

"But they didn't have any complaints, or any injuries or nothing," Lardis insisted. "They didn't mention anything" about the beatings when asking to be sent home on Monday. "They (simply) expressed the willingness to leave Cyprus to go to their homes."

Television footage of the scene showed members of Mmad dressed in riot-gear viciously kicking, stomping and clubbing the African men, after using tear- gas on them to quell a cell-block riot.

The illegal immigrants had set fire to their bedclothes and refused to leave their cells late on Friday night on learning that several of them were to be deported the next morning.

Mmad officers used tear-gas to drive them from their cells into the detention centre's yard, where they waded into the men after forcing them to lie face-down on the ground.

About 10 people, one a police officer, were treated at Larnaca General Hospital for injuries, including the effects of tear gas. All were back in custody yesterday, Lardis said.

Markides yesterday expressed the government's official "sorrow" about the entire affair, but added his appointment of investigators "to investigate this case thoroughly... proves the government's sensitivity to human rights" and its political will to get to the bottom of things.

He also reiterated the official fear that "the government's honour will not be preserved if these images are shown overseas."

Markides has appointed five civilian investigators to probe the actions of Mmad. He has also decided to move 20 of the 42 currently in Larnaca police custody to the Central Prison in Nicosia, because he said their living conditions there were unacceptable.

Nicos Koshis, Minister of Justice and Public Order, added that Cyprus was "definitely against violence" of the kind shown in the footage. He declined to elaborate, noting an investigation was under way, except to say he did not know who had given the order to send in Mmad to deal with the detainees.

Deputy Cyprus Police Chief Andreas Christofides said he was "pleased" with the civilian probe of the Mmad force, as it would be "more objective" than if the police had investigated their own, and would preclude any public suspicions of a cover-up.

Markides said the press might be allowed to interview the boat people later this week, after his investigators had obtained their testimony of what happened. "I don't want to have a trial by press. I am going to have proper procedure," he insisted.

Lardis refused The Cyprus Mail any contact with the detainees yesterday, "because they are in police custody... Nobody is allowed to visit persons in custody except their lawyers."

Asked if they had lawyers, Lardis replied: "I don't know. I don't know if any lawyers have expressed a willingness to see them."

He acknowledged, however, that Markides' investigators were "taking statements" from the Larnaca detainees about last Friday's riot.

Four deportations on Sunday and the two on Monday left Larnaca police holding 42 of the 48 involved in Friday's disturbances. Lardis said his own facility had 25 of the 42 illegals, and that the remainder were elsewhere in Larnaca.

Another 50 of the original 113 boat people rescued at sea in June are being housed in the Pefkos Hotel in Limassol. All 113 were brought ashore after being found sick and starving off the Cyprus coast in the Syrian-registered trawler, Ridallah.

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

[03] Smoke-free plan reduced to ashes

CYPRUS Airways plans to introduce tobacco-free flights have gone up in smoke after cabin crew complained about an exemption for pilots.

And stewards' union Cynika said yesterday that even if the airline's Board agreed to ban pilots from lighting up in the cockpit, there were still no guarantees that cabin crew would accept non-smoking flights.

The no-smoking scheme was to have been introduced on a two-month experimental basis on the Athens and London routes from October 12, an airline source said.

"The decision to ban smoking on the flights was reached after we ran a questionnaire in which 90 per cent of passengers said they would prefer non- smoking flights," the source said.

Management wanted to test the scheme with regular passengers on a trial basis and to obtain feedback before the Christmas holiday period.

"In the Christmas period, there would be a mix of people, including a lot of students, so the feedback would not be representative of regular traffic, " the source said.

Now the entire scheme has had to be shelved until early in the new year, if it goes ahead at all.

"The board's decision, which says the flights are to be non-smoking with the exception of the cockpit, is not fair," Cynika chief Costas Demetriou told the Cyprus Mail.

"Can you imagine how a passenger or a steward who is not allowed to smoke would feel if the cockpit door opened and all that smoke gushed out?"

Demetriou conceded that the cockpit was cut off from passengers as far as smoking was concerned, but he said cabin crew also had a separate space where they could smoke "behind a curtain".

"We just want the same treatment as pilots," he said, but admitted that even if pilots were included in the ban, Cynika may still refuse to accept the non-smoking package.

"If the board makes such a decision, we will consider it," he said.

But the airline source said he could not understand why staff at all the airlines in the world could stop smoking on flights, but those at Cyprus Airways could not.

"Cynika said if we introduce non-smoking flights, they would tell members to smoke," the source said. "How can you have non-smoking flights in which cabin crew are going around smoking and asking passengers to stop?"

The airline's spokesman Tassos Angelis said yesterday management was in contact with Cynika to try to reach a compromise on the smoking issue.

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

[04] Government plans interest rate bill next month

THE GOVERNMENT SAID yesterday it would submit to the House next month or early in December a bill to liberalise domestic interest rates, a key aspect of the island's drive to align economic and financial policies with those of the European Union.

Interest rates in Cyprus have had a ceiling of nine per cent since a law designed to combat usury came into force in 1944. Commercial banks currently charge eight per cent for loans, while interest rates for deposits stand at 6.5 per cent.

Cyprus opened membership talks with the EU last March, but the so-called "substantive negotiations" on its accession are due to start next month. The government's membership target date is January 2003.

Yesterday's announcement came after a meeting between former president George Vassiliou, the island's chief negotiator with the EU, and Finance Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou.

Speaking on state radio, both men sought to allay local fears of interest rate hikes following liberalisation. "My personal assessment is that they will stay at low levels for the next few years," said Vassiliou.

The services-based Cyprus economy is forecast to grow by 4.7 per cent this year and by 4 per cent in 1999, well above the EU average of 2.8 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

But both the island's fiscal deficit and its public debt are in breach of the ceilings set by the Maastricht Treaty for economic and monetary union. The fiscal deficit is set to hit 5.7 per cent of GDP this year and shoot to 6.3 per cent in 1999, more than twice the 3 per cent maximum set by Maastricht, according to Christodoulou. The Public debt, which currently stands at 59.8 per cent of GDP, will cross the Maastricht threshold of 60 per cent in 1999 to stand at 61.7 per cent of GDP.

Earlier this month, Christodoulou said that prospects for further savings in public expenditure were limited. He is widely expected to ask the House later this year to ratify a four per cent hike in value added tax to 12 per cent.

Earlier this month, the Finance Minister announced a series of cost-cutting measures in the public sector, restricting overtime pay for the police force and restricting the use of government-owned vehicles. Travel and entertainment allowances would also be streamlined under the new measures.

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

[05] Girl's organs used in three operations

THREE people should lead longer lives thanks to the gift of their daughter's organs by the "remarkable" parents of three-year-old Vergina Nicolaides, who died after a weekend pony fall at UN festivities, Dr. George Kyriakides said yesterday.

Vergina, one of two children of Mr. and Mrs. Michaelis Nicolaides, was buried yesterday afternoon, following funeral services at the church of St. Stylianou in the Aspris Refugee estate in Lakatamia.

The girl was pronounced brain-dead on Monday after being trampled by a pony from which she fell during UN Day 'Open House' festivities at the Ledra Palace Hotel in the Buffer Zone on Saturday. The event celebrated 50 years of UN peacekeeping.

Government spokesman Christos Stylianides yesterday offered the "deepest sorrow and sympathies" of President Glafcos Clerides and his government "to the parents for the unfair loss of their child." Clerides, too, praised their generosity in donating the child's organs.

Dame Ann Hercus, UN Chief of Mission in Cyprus, said, "Our sincerest sympathy and condolences go out to the parents and family of Vergina."

"The mother and father of the child had great courage" to think of others during their great grief, Kyriakides, director of the Paraskevaides Transplant Centre in Nicosia, said.

"They faced the whole thing with calm... They were remarkable... We can't thank them enough," he said.

Kyriakides said one of Vergina's kidneys was successfully transplanted yesterday morning into a seven-year-old boy, Nicolas Socratous, "whose mother was going to be his donor."

"So we saved the mother a major operation," he said, adding the boy's new kidney was "functioning, and the child is doing very well."

Vergina's other kidney was transplanted yesterday afternoon into a Limassol man, 44, who had spent some four years in kidney dialysis. "He got a second kidney. It is functioning, and he is (also) doing quite well," Kyriakides said.

The dead child's liver was flown yesterday to hospital at King's College in London, where it was to have been transplanted into a waiting recipient the same afternoon, Kyriakides said.

"It's a really sad story," Kyriakides said. "The parents are really great. They were very calm and very grateful that something positive could come out of their child's death."

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

[06] 'Murder' was elaborate suicide, police say

Reports on Monday said Roussos had been kidnapped from the Orphanides supermarket parking lot in Larnaca late on Sunday night.

A mystery caller - now thought to be the victim himself - rang police and told them he had seen two men in a black car pull a man from a red car, bundle him into their vehicle and drive away.

At the scene, police found a car belonging to Roussos, 26,

its engine still running and its lights on. The driver's door was open. A search was immediately begun for Roussos.

His body was found just before 11pm on Monday, on the stairs leading from the fifth floor to the roof of the Ayios Raphael Clinic, just 100 yards from the parking lot.

The grisly discovery was made by an unnamed nurse at the clinic, who by chance chose to take the stairs to the roof rather than the lift. When she tried to open the door to the stairs, she was unable to do so as Roussos' body had fallen against it. She forced the door open and found the body.

Her screams alerted Dr Yiannis Cassinis who was nearby and who ascertained that Roussos was dead, alerting police.

After a one-hour autopsy by State pathologist Sophocles Sophocleous on Monday night, police announced yesterday that Roussos had died of an overdose, having taken large amounts of various prescription medicines purchased earlier at a pharmacy, and that all indications were that he had committed suicide.

Roussos, who was married with two children, but had split from his wife last week, had been undergoing treatment from state psychiatrist Kyriakos Versies. He had previously served four years in prison for burglary and was currently charged with kidnapping a minor.

Police said that Roussos apparently left the car as it was found in order to make it look as if a kidnapping had taken place, leaving his watch and cigarette lighter lying in the car park.

He then went up to the roof of the clinic and apparently watched police as they scanned the area for 10 hours before taking the lethal overdose. When his body was found, he had been dead for 12 hours.

Wednesday, October 28, 1998

[07] Greece's 'no' a source of inspiration for Cyprus

The refusal eventually led to Greece's invasion and occupation by the Axis powers.

In a message to Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis on the occasion of the October 28 celebrations, President Glafcos Clerides said, "The 28th of October 1940, a symbol of freedom in the long history of the Greek nation, is a source of inspiration and morale for all Greeks, and especially for Cypriot Hellenism today."

In his address to school children and teachers marking the day, Education Minister Lycourgos Kappas said: "Hellenism's 'no' to tyranny is carried form generation to generation, from century to century."

The honouring of the historic 'ochi' or no to fascism, will include parades in every town following church services. High-school pupils, university and college students, Scouts, Guides and members of other organisations will join veterans in parades along the main streets of Cyprus.

The parades, beginning at 10 am, will be attended by government and Church officials.

Clerides will be attending the parade in Nicosia after the service by Archbishop Chrysostomos. The officials will watch the Nicosia parade from a stand in front of the Greek Embassy. Foreign Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides will attend the Limassol parade, Health Minister Christos Solomis will be in Larnaca and Defence Minister Yiannakis Omirou in Paphos. The parades in Famagusta-Paralimni and Morphou-Evrichou will be attended by Interior Minister Dinos Michaelides and Agriculture Minister Costas Themistocleous respectively.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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