Brits to move from ‘unsafe’ Ledra Palace
THE British contingent of the United Nations peacekeepers is moving out from uninhabitable living quarters at the Ledra Palace Hotel on Lefkoşa’s Green Line where they have resided since 1974, according to the article published this week by English-language Cyprus Mail.
The 210 British soldiers are to be moved to the United Nations Protected Area (UNPA) at the old capital’s airport, which is also under UN control. The move is part of a strategic review of Unficyp that was carried out recently.
Unficyp spokesman Aleem Siddique said on Monday that the hotel would remain in UN hands but only its ground floor, which is noted for hosting bicommunal events, will now be used.
The move is to be completed by the end of this year or the latest the beginning of 2019.
Though billed as a routine refurbishment, behind the move lies a more complicated situation going back almost two decades when parts of the once-luxurious hotel, were first deemed unsafe.
British soldiers for years have put up with blocked toilets overflowing with sewage, broken pipes and falling plaster, piles of pigeon droppings on the balconies, dangerously exposed wires and electrical fittings, and broken lifts and air-conditioning systems. So bad is the situation that the Greek Cypriot government has being strongly pressured by Britain and the UN to act.
A source said the South’s government was wholly responsible for refurbishing, and other UN member states would not pay on these grounds alone. At the same time, the UN could not have troops exposed to the continued risks, so they would be relocated.
“The upper floors are not up to code,” said the source, who added that to fix all of the problems at the Ledra Palace would be “prohibitively expensive” and there was simply nothing in the UN budget for that kind of work.
“The top floors will be mothballed with minimum works for structural safety,” the source said, adding that it was most likely the British contingent would not be returning there.