NICOSIA (Reuters) – Amid growing pressure for a peace deal on Cyprus, a United Nations envoy cautioned against a superficial quick fix and said yesterday that any agreement must last. Cyprus’s estranged Greek- and Turkish-Cypriot communities have been discussing reunification since September 2008, the latest attempt to end a 35-year conflict that is holding up Turkey’s hopes of joining the European Union. “You have to put together an agreement that will hold in place... there’s no point cobbling together something that won’t work just for the sake of finishing it nice and fast,” said UN envoy Alexander Downer, a former Australian foreign minister. The two sides are debating a raft of complex issues, ranging from property rights of displaced persons to power sharing, issues they have been unable to agree on for years. Cyprus is represented in the EU by a Greek-Cypriot government that will not consent to Turkey joining the bloc unless there is a peace deal. The EU has frozen part of Turkey’s entry talks over Ankara’s failure to open its ports and airports to Greek-Cypriot traffic.

BELGRADE (AP) – Five former members of special police units are being investigated in Serbia for allegedly committing atrocities in Kosovo, the Serbian war crimes prosecutor’s office said yesterday. The five are suspected of committing war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war during the 1998-99 conflict, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement, without giving details. Police refused to confirm a report by independent B92 TV saying four suspects had been arrested. The prosecutor’s investigation is a first step toward a possible indictment. A human rights group filed a complaint earlier this month accusing former commanders and members of Serbia’s special police of “massive war crimes” in Kosovo. The Humanitarian Law Center said the officers responsible have not been punished and still hold important positions in the Serbian police force. None of the suspects has been identified by name, and it is unclear what positions they hold.

ZAGREB (AFP) – A Croatian court yesterday sentenced six of the ex-Yugoslav state’s former military police to jail terms of up to 16 years for war crimes against Serb civilians at the outbreak of its independence war. The court in the eastern town of Pozega jailed Potelo Tomic, Zeljko Ivezic and Antun Tutic to 16, 12 and 10 years in prison, respectively, while three other defendants got terms of between one and four-and-a-half years. The six were found guilty of having tortured and imprisoned the Serbs in a motel near Pakrac, another eastern town, in November 1991. Eighteen of the 24 civilians were killed. Defense lawyers said they would appeal, while the prosecution expressed “satisfaction” with the verdicts.

The Serbian government said yesterday it had amended an anti-discrimination bill following requests from key religious communities but that the draft still met international standards. The bill, which now goes to parliament, is a key precondition for Serbia to join the EU and its visa-free regime. The original draft had sparked criticism from Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious communities over stipulations that ban discrimination of homosexuals and transgender people. “We have reached a good law which eliminates discrimination and is in line with international standards,” Rasim Ljajic, Serbia’s Labor Minister, told a news conference. “I cannot say that religious communities will be too happy.” Prompted by protests from the top clergy, the government last week withdrew the bill from the parliamentary procedure. Human rights watchdogs strongly opposed the withdrawal of the draft from parliament, arguing that religious communities were meddling in state affairs and sexual minorities would face discrimination. (Reuters)

A hooded man robbed a bank in the capital of Cyprus yesterday after breaking in through a window and hiding in the toilet until it opened for business, Cyprus police said. The robber escaped with 17,500 euros and $9,300 after rushing out of the toilet and threatening a cashier and two customers with a gun, officials at the Kaimakli Co-op branch in Nicosia said. Police said they were investigating why the alarm failed to go off when the man broke in. “When the branch opened and, as the cashier went to put money in the till, a hooded man approached her from behind and took the money at gunpoint. It seems the alarm did not work,” Nicosia Deputy Police Chief Sotiris Kotsikas said. A citizen gave chase after seeing what had happened, to no avail, although the fleeing robber did drop his gun, which turned out to be a fake. (AFP)

Austria’s Valentin Inzko was formally appointed yesterday as the international community’s new envoy to Bosnia, replacing outgoing Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak. The appointment was made in Sarajevo at a meeting of the steering board of the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), which represents the 55 countries that oversee postwar Bosnia. “The Steering Board looks forward to working with Ambassador Inzko when he takes up his duties as the high representative immediately following the PIC steering board political directors’ meeting on March 26,” it said in a statement. Inzko, 59, will be Bosnia’s seventh international envoy since the war. (AFP)