Cyprus Mail: News Articles in English, 98-12-08

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

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

CONTENTS

[01] Greece sends spokesman on fence-mending exercise

[02] Missing suspect was murder 'mastermind'

[03] Hardliners win Turkish Cypriot elections

[04] Clerides sends back citizenship amendment

[05] Christodoulou seeks to mend fences with Pasydy

[06] Police arrest Egyptian for hit-and-run death

[07] Disy's road safety gaffe

[08] 'Definite progress' reported in Paneuropean negotiations

[09] Cash theft suspect to be extradited from Greece

[10] Greenpeace protest new sea dumping permit for Israeli company

[11] Tavli goes trendy

[01] Greece sends spokesman on fence-mending exercise

GREEK government spokesman Demetris Reppas yesterday glossed over the Athens-Nicosia rift over the S-300 missiles, saying in Nicosia that it was not the crux of the Cyprus problem.

Reppas was on the island for a one-day fence-mending visit, which comes after disagreement over the fate of the missiles between President Clerides and Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis at a key Athens meeting late last month.

Simitis is understood to favour a Cretan deployment for the missiles, an idea said to have come from the Americans, but Clerides insisted he would fulfil his election promise to bring them to Cyprus.

Although he avoided any mention of the rift yesterday, Reppas said no one could overturn a decision of the National Council on the deployment of the S-300s.

"Cyprus is a state that has the same rights as any other member state of the UN," Reppas said after a meeting with President Clerides.

"It is not a state with reduced rights. It has a complete right to its own defence, and within this it can go ahead with deploying the S-300s."

However, he said Cyprus and its citizens must not think the supply and deployment of the missiles was the centre of the Cyprus issue.

"It is only one part of the issues that concern the Cyprus problem," he said.

He said Cyprus and Greece had to take the initiative on the Cyprus problem and choose on which field to fight.

"This field should not be one of armaments, heightening tensions and confrontation," he said. "It should be the field of developing welfare, the field of respect for human rights and communications."

Reppas said a solution would mean brave decisions from both sides, adding that Cyprus had already shown the way with the government's demilitarisation proposal. He said moves on the part of the US were also a cause for optimism.

After his meeting with House President Spyros Kyprianou, Reppas said he hoped Cyprus would follow the path of justice, logic, reason and morality on the Cyprus problem.

This path would involve choosing the welfare of Cypriot Hellenism and the reduction of tensions in the area.

The US has said it is willing to consider almost any alternative to the Russian S-300 missiles being deployed on Cyprus and is understood to be actively involved in efforts to find a way out on the issue.

It believes the arrival of the missiles in Cyprus will complicate demilitarisation proposals and UN efforts to reach a political settlement.

But Clerides said on Sunday that the decision to deploy the missiles still stood unless the conditions - demilitarisation or substantial political negotiations - set by the government were satisfied.

"I firmly believe the strategy on the national problem, the accession course (EU) and our defence is correct," Clerides said.

"If we suddenly altered our strategy on all the issues that I have mentioned, the Cyprus problem would plunge back into a protracted stalemate and would cast Cypriot Hellenism into uncertainty and insecurity."

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[02] Missing suspect was murder 'mastermind'

POLICE believe that a second Chinese murder suspect still at large was the mastermind behind last week's vicious double murder and remains highly dangerous.

Hundreds of officers scoured the island yesterday to try and find murder suspect Bu Hua Cheng, 22, who is believed to be in hiding and still in Cyprus.

Bu is described by police as extremely dangerous. The public have been warned not to tackle him alone.

The twenty-two-year-old was named by his compatriot Wang Yang, 21, a fellow student now in police custody.

Apparently, Yang has confessed to last week's murder of a young Chinese couple, whose bodies were found in a ravine near Trooditissa. Police say he has named Bu as the one who planned the horrific murders in an alleged attempt to rob the victims of around $3,000.

On Sunday, Yang was taken to the flat where the attack took place and to the site where the bodies were dumped last Wednesday to assist police reconstruct the train of events.

Chinese couple Lou Jian Hui, 23 and Jiang Ming Xia, 23, were subjected to torture and sexual abuse with various objects before being strangled to death, according to forensic evidence.

During their ordeal, the victims reportedly had clothing stuffed in their mouths so their screams couldn't be heard by neighbours.

Their bodies were then wrapped in a blanket and taken to the Troodos mountain range and thrown down a 100-metre ravine.

Police have appealed to all tourist and travel agents to assist police in their search, just in case the suspect attempts to leave the island.

It is understood that the police are in possession of his travel documents.

Limassol's Chinese student community is said to have given vital information to the police and is actively involved in trying to find the suspect.

Police have also been in contact with the Chinese embassy in an effort to discover whether the suspects have a criminal past.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[03] Hardliners win Turkish Cypriot elections

The National Unity Party headed by Turkish Cypriot 'Prime Minister' Dervis Eroglu garnered 40.33 per cent of the vote, just short of an absolute majority, with 24 seats in the 50-seat 'Assembly'.

Eroglu had governed in coalition with the party of Serdar Denktash, son of the Turkish Cypriot leader, though the parties fought separate campaigns for Sunday's poll. It was not clear yesterday whether Eroglu would again need coalition support to form a new 'government'.

Serdar Denktash's Democratic Party took 22.61 per cent of the vote, with 13 seats.

The remainder of the seats were divided between the Communal Liberation Party of Mustafa Akinci, which took seven seats or 15.36 per cent of the vote, and the Republican Turkish Party of Mehmet Ali Talat which took 13.5 per cent, or six seats.

Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash said on Sunday that the polls should be seen as a sign of the 'sovereignty' of his breakaway state.

"I hope the world will look at this election and realise that separate elections are not a fabrication," he told reporters after casting his vote in occupied Nicosia.

Pre-election polls had suggested the results might provide a challenge to Denktash's refusal to return to the negotiating table. The two smaller parties support the resumption of direct talks.

Turnout for Sunday's elections was estimated at 85 per cent of some 120,000 registered voters. The final make up of the new 'parliament' is expected to become clear this week.

"We had very good elections with no unpleasant events," Denktash said. "The world now has to open its eyes and realise our existence. The world has to understand that the Turkish Cypriots have the right to hold separate general elections."

He said the Turkish Cypriots had given a good lesson in democracy.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[04] Clerides sends back citizenship amendment

The bill, passed by the House Plenum on November 19, had set a two-year period for both foreign-born women and foreign-born men with Cypriot spouses to wait before becoming eligible to apply for Cyprus citizenship.

Before the House action, foreign men married to Cypriot women had to wait five years before being entitled to apply for Cyprus citizenship - five times longer than the mere one year waiting period for foreign women married to Cypriot men.

Clerides, according to Phileftheros, bounced the bill back to the House because he wanted the waiting period raised from two years to three to guard against marriages of convenience. He also cited concern over the status of applicants who might have been in Cyprus illegally.

Akel Deputy Andreas Philippou, who had tabled the bill some 19 months ago on grounds the old law "has been totally unjust to women", had originally wanted a one-year waiting for foreign-born spouses of either sex.

Other deputies' concerns that only one year might lead to marriages of convenience produced a compromise of a uniform two-year waiting period for both sexes.

Philippou said at the time of the House vote that the bill represented" one more step towards sexual equality for Cypriots." He was unavilable for comment yesterday as to how he viewed Clerides' rejection of the measure.

Government Spokesman Christos Stylianides was yesterday, unavailable for comment on the issue, protesting a poor line on his mobile telephone, which was subsequently switched off.

Philippou had said the new legislation, if signed into law, would have affected about 3,000 foreign-born men married to Cypriot women still waiting for citizenship eligibilty under the old five-year rule. There are an estimated 8,000 mixed marriages of Cypriots and foreign-born spouses in Cyprus.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[05] Christodoulou seeks to mend fences with Pasydy

FINANCE Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou was yesterday hard at work mending bridges with civil servants' union Pasydy.

Christodoulou has been in the powerful union's bad books for agreeing to negotiate state doctors' demands with their break-away union Pasyki. Pasyki staged two warning strikes late last month and was threatening an indefinite strike if the minister did not recognise them.

But Pasydy believes it should still represent the doctors, even though 98 per cent of government doctors jumped ship five months ago to form Pasyki. Christodoulou initially backed the Pasydy position, but the threat of major disruption to hospitals made him change his mind.

The minister yesterday called the Pasydy leadership to a face-to-face meeting.

In statements afterwards, Christodoulou insisted the doctors' issue had not been on the agenda but bent over backwards to please Pasydy. "The organisation for public servants is Pasydy, and I cannot hide the fact that for us (the government) as employers it always was and remains our desire to have a monolithic and powerful union movement."

Pasydy was obviously pleased by the minister's approach, its terse attacks of last week - when the union accused the minister of trying to undermine unions - apparently forgotten.

"During this meeting, we received totally satisfactory answers to important questions that arose after recent developments and which concerned the way the government negotiates with Pasydy," Pasydy general secretary Glafcos Hadjipetrou said, in obvious reference to the doctors' issue.

He too denied the doctors' issue had been discussed.

He did not say whether Pasydy would now be accepting Christodoulou's invitation to negotiate doctors' demands jointly with Pasyki.

Pasydy last week threatened to boycott the talks with the government, upset at Christodoulou's decision to talk to Pasyki. Christodoulou responded that the government would go ahead and negotiate with Pasyki alone.

Pasydy claim still to represent all state doctors, as those who have joined Pasyki have not officially left Pasydy. Pasyki say their members are only still registered with Pasydy to enable their new union to seek Pasydy assets in court.

Government doctors have long been calling for pay rises, bigger pensions and more overtime pay, complaining they get a raw deal compared to other civil servants because their long years in training mean they enter the service much later. They abandoned Pasydy saying it was not doing enough to push their demands.

The doctors also want a radical reorganisation of the way the health service is run.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[06] Police arrest Egyptian for hit-and-run death

A POLICE manhunt led to the arrest on Sunday of an Egyptian suspected of knocking down a British couple, killing the wife and seriously injuring the husband.

Margaret Crombie, 51, died instantly after she was sent flying by a car while out for an evening stroll with her husband, William, 52, in the tourist area of Limassol last Friday.

Police said the tourists had just stepped off the curb when a Fiat saloon came from behind and mowed them down.

Seaman Hassan Farouk Ali Darwish, 24, was remanded for eight days on Sunday in connection with the incident by a Limassol district court.

Police say he confessed in a statement to being the driver at the wheel in the fatal accident.

The Egyptian was arrested at Limassol's old port, only minutes before leaving the island on a boat.

In his statement, the suspect apparently told police that he panicked when smoke started coming out of the car's engine, losing control of the vehicle.

After hitting the tourists, the vehicle continued on its destructive course, crashing into three parked cars before coming to a standstill among the wreckage, where the driver abandoned the car.

Ali Darwish said he left the scene of the accident because he was afraid, according to police.

Police said the arrest followed a tip-off, which led them to another car which the Egyptian was driving with three Jordanian passengers.

The three Jordanians were arrested. Police said one of them was an illegal immigrant.

Warning shots were fired at the car, but the suspect fled the scene once again, only to be caught by police several hours later at the old port.

The British couple had arrived in Cyprus on November 23 for a two-week holiday at the Arsinoe hotel in Limassol.

William Crombie, who was taken to Limassol general hospital, suffered serious injuries but is said to be out of danger.

The accident took place on Amathus Avenue in Yermasoyia at around 9.10pm on Friday. Police said the owner of the car had left the island the previous day.

Limassol traffic police nevertheless still want to speak to Egyptian Yazid Abdalla Ahmed Mohammed Elnaggar, who is the owner of the car.

Limassol traffic police are continuing their investigation.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[07] Disy's road safety gaffe

For the front cover of the latest issue of its monthly newsletter, the party chose a photograph of two teenagers speeding along on a scooter; neither is wearing a helmet.

Cyprus has one of the highest road death rates in the world and police have mounted repeated campaigns to get motorbike users to wear helmets.

A spokesman for the police traffic department yesterday confirmed that helmets were a mandatory requirement for riders of scooters, like the one depicted in the Disy leaflet.

A party spokesman was apologetic about the gaffe when it was pointed out to him by the Cyprus Mail yesterday. "Now that you mention it I think you're right, they should be wearing helmets. No-one thought of it."

"The picture was taken from an advertising agency's archives," he explained, adding that the picture probably would not have looked so good if the riders had been wearing helmets.

The photo was used to plug this weekend's Disy conference, with the slogan "Forward Only" splashed across it.

Ten thousand of the Disy leaflets have been issued.

Disy said it was now too late to do anything about the picture.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[08] 'Definite progress' reported in Paneuropean negotiations

NICOS Shacolas said yesterday the drawn-out negotiations to sell his insurance business had made progress. The announcement sent share prices surging by nearly one per cent on a volume of £3.33 million, one of the biggest so far this year.

In a single-paragraph letter sent to the Cyprus Stock Exchange Committee and made available to the media and brokers, the Cypriot tycoon said: "In reference to the letter sent today, I wish to inform you that the negotiations referred to in previous announcements are continuing more intensively and that definite progress has been made."

Traders said the Shacolas' letter was in response to one sent to him earlier yesterday by the bourse's authority seeking an update on the progress of the negotiations. The Shacolas letter did not name the party with whom he was negotiating the sale of his Paneuropean Insurance Group, but previous announcements mentioned the Interamerican Insurance (Greece) group as the main contender.

News that negotiations were taking place to sell Paneuropean and its affiliate companies Interamerican Insurance and Philiki Insurance first surfaced nearly two months ago, luring hundreds of investors to buy in the three titles in the hope of cashing in when the sale goes through.

But negotiations have since dragged on, with little information about their progress, creating the impression that they may have foundered. The three titles then began rapidly to come off their record highs and trade in them was greatly reduced.

"The lack of news did create a certain level of uncertainty and a big down- side for those who moved in at a higher level in the Shacolas insurance titles," said Stavros Agrotis, a senior broker at CISCO, the Bank of Cyprus' brokerage and investment banking arm.

Yesterday's letter from Shacolas, however, appeared to provide the lift that the market needed. The official all-share index leapt by 0.99 per cent to close at 90.59, recording its third successive session to end in positive territory.

The insurance sub-index alone rose by 2.69 per cent to close at 68.41 points on a volume of £1.27 million, ahead of the consistently heavily traded blue-chips of the banking sector.

The banks sector had a volume of £1.08 million and its sub-index closed 0.94 per cent up at 104.65.

Paneuropean shares rose by two cents to close at £1.21, while Interamerican closed up six cents at £1.10 and Philiki up seven cents to reach £1.03. Volume in the three titles accounted for nearly 35 per cent of yesterday's trade, suggesting that interest had rekindled in the stocks.

Traders said Shacolas' asking price for his and his family's stake at Paneuropean was £1.40-£1.45 apiece, a level that if agreed would allow investors in the three titles to walk away with handsome profits.

But the benefits of a deal were expected to reach far beyond the three stocks.

"Those who took positions in the Shacolas titles will be made a public offer for their holdings which will entice them to sell and cash in," said Yiannos Andronikou of Suphire Stockbrokers Ltd.

"Those who had not been able to take positions in the titles have done so in other stocks and are now waiting for the Shacolas investors to cash in and put their money in those stocks."

"In short, the whole market will receive a boost if a deal is reached," he said.

The rally in the Shacolas' insurance titles began on Friday, when a rumour later denied by the Group said a deal had been struck for the sale of Paneuropean. Insurance shares nevertheless jumped by 3.7 per cent on more than £500,000 worth of trade on Friday.

"Today's rally was not exclusively due to the Shacolas letter," said CISCO's Agrotis. "We, as CISCO, were net buyers in other titles, including other Shacolas' stocks."

Of the market's seven sub-indices, only tourism and miscellaneous closed down. In second place after the insurance sector's 2.69 per cent rise came trading companies. Its sub-index leapt 2.51 per cent with Shacolas' CTC rising by 5.5 cents to close at £1.02 apiece.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[09] Cash theft suspect to be extradited from Greece

Nicos Constantinou, 51, will be brought back to Cyprus after being accused by an Engomi woman of taking her money and disappearing with it for nearly two years.

According to the charge, Constantinou was entrusted with the cash on February 5, 1997, after promising to exchange it for Cyprus pounds.

Following lengthy enquiries, Constantinou was tracked down in Greece and the Cyprus authorities requested his extradition through Interpol.

In August, Greek Interpol informed Nicosia that Constantinou had been arrested and extradition proceedings were under way.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[10] Greenpeace protest new sea dumping permit for Israeli company

Greenpeace activists yesterday blocked the entrance of fertilizer producer Haifa Chemicals in response to the new permit issue.

Activists dressed in white overalls and black chemical masks chained themselves to the main gate and prevented plant employees and trucks from entering or leaving.

A huge banner was also unfurled over a plant stack, which read "Stop Sea Dumping".

Greenpeace accuses Haifa Chemicals of recklessly using the Mediterranean as a waste bin for dumping toxic sludge.

"A special permits committee, which includes delegates from several ministries, last month allowed Haifa Chemicals to dump an additional 2,000 tons a month until March 31, 1999," Greenpeace Mediterranean campaigner Ofer Ben-Dov said yesterday.

Over a 13-year period, the US-owned firm is accused of having dumped some 650,000 tones of toxic industrial waste into the Mediterranean.

"The Israeli government should have symbolised the end of the UN declared Year of the Oceans by halting this polluting business," said Ben-Dov.

"Instead, it is again insulting the residents along the shores of the basin, especially Israel, Cyprus, Egypt and Lebanon, by allowing the dumping of Haifa Chemicals poison in international waters."

Earlier this year, Greenpeace mounted an undercover operation at sea and caught the Israeli company dumping toxic sludge off Cyprus.

During a meeting with Greenpeace in July, Israeli Environment Minister Rafael Eitan made a commitment to stop the dumping by the end of this year.

The Cyprus and Israeli authorities have said the sludge poses no risk to human health.

Tuesday, December 8, 1998

[11] Tavli goes trendy

This year's championship, sponsored by Rothmans Lights, offers the winner an all-expenses-paid four-day trip to glamorous Monte Carlo. The runner-up will be getting a hi-tech stereo system and heat winners will be getting professional backgammon sets.

Further heats will take place in Larnaca today, in Limassol on Wednesday and in Paphos on Thursday. The final is to be held in Nicosia at Da Capo on Sunday. Entry forms were circulated round all the country's top cafés and the response was described as "enthusiastic".

Backgammon is known in Cyprus as Tavli, and is more often seen played by unfashionable little old men in unfashionable old coffee shops.

© Copyright Cyprus Mail 1998

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