UN faces tough task to get Cyprus peace talks restarted

U.N. chief Antonio Guterres will host an informal gathering this week in Geneva for the rival Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders

NICOSIA, Cyprus -- Normally, trying to get the two sides on ethnically divided Cyprus to sit down for yet another round of talks is preceded by plenty of well-wishing and messages of hope that perhaps this time a peace deal will be worked out. This week it’s different — quite different. The mood is dour even before the two sides agree to sit down for real talks because they no longer seem to share the same vision of how a final peace deal should take shape. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres will host an informal gathering of the rival Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders in Geneva as well as the foreign ministers of Cyprus ‘guarantors’ — Greece, Turkey and former colonial ruler Britain. The goal is to get the two sides back on the same page and embarking on a fresh round of formal talks. Guterres’ spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, has urged the sides to “come with creativity” to the informal meeting. Here’s a brief explainer of where things stand: