ABSTRACT
UNFICYP is an example of how the UN by attempting to interpose between the parties in conflict-one of the most common of peacekeeping activities-may itself become part of the overall problem. The operation can be seen as having played a not insignificant role in containing ethnic conflict on the island of Cyprus and preventing possible confrontation between Greece and Turkey: yet it can also be viewed as having merely kept the warring sides apart while failing to resolve the root causes of the conflict. The ongoing presence of the UN force raises the questions: is peace the absence of armed conflict or a state where the parties are agreed on a territorial or political solution; and what is the UN to do in the face of continuing intransigence on the part of both elements to the dispute?
