The more things change, the more they stay the same, as the popular saying goes. It’s ringing true.

Former UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros Ghali has died at the age of 93, and the Cyprus problem remains unsolved, 24 years after he proposed his Set of Ideas for a reunification deal to then-president George Vassiliou and Turkish-Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash.

At the time, the Egyptian politician Ghali commented on the Turkish-Cypriot stance, saying:

“Some of the positions voiced by the Turkish-Cypriot side are, in a fundamental way, outside the framework of the Set of Ideas.”

Things haven’t changed much since then; reunification talks are ongoing and the Turkish-Cypriot side still appears to be negotiating on the basis of a confederation of two states rather than a federation. The federal model proposes that although the Greek-and-Turkish Cypriots would have different territories and administer their own affairs, the constituent elements would be under a federal central government.

One of Ghali’s objectives was that the “Cyprus settlement is based on a State of Cyprus with a single sovereignty and international personality and a single citizenship, with its independence and territorial integrity safeguarded, and comprising two politically equal communities… in a bicommunal and bizonal federation, and … the settlement must exclude union in whole or in part with any other country or any form of partition or secession.”

Ghali’s overall plan was rejected amid election campaigning, because it was opposed by Glafkos Clerides and Denktash at the end of the day.

Although President Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci have not presented a final plan, if they do so before May’s parliamentary elections, they can be sure that it will be the main target for those who are hostile to a solution.

RIP to another peacemaker who never saw a final reunification deal in Cyprus, those who advocate peace are thankful for his efforts and hope the next plan is successful and based on universal human rights and EU principles.

Current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki moon paid tribute to Ghali, saying:

“As Secretary-General, he presided over a dramatic rise in UN peacekeeping. He also presided over a time when the world increasingly turned to the United Nations for solutions to its problems, in the immediate aftermath of the cold war.”