US pledges aid for united Cyprus

Demonstrations have taken place for and against the plan

The United States has pledged $400 million in aid to support a UN plan to end the 30-year division of Cyprus.

But it stressed the money will only be paid if both Greek and Turkish Cypriots back the UN peace plan in referendums on 24 April.

Thirty nations and organisations are currently attending a pre-donors' conference in Brussels to calculate the costs of the UN plan.

The EU is expected to announce plans for about $385 million in aid.

The head of the US Agency for International Development, Andrew Natsios has appealed to both sides on the island to back the UN plan.

"We asked Cypriots to look beyond the imperfections and disappointments inherent in any proposal, including this one, and to have faith in the promise of reconciliation and hope which this proposal offers," Mr Natsios said at the conference.

He added that the amount was being announced before the to reassure Cypriots that the international community would not "abandon" the island after the vote.

"We wanted to make it clear that that should not be the basis for people to vote," he said.

EU membership

The UN plan envisages a federation of two states - one Greek and the other Turkish - with a loose central government, on the Swiss model.

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But both the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, and the Greek Cypriot leader, Tassos Papadopoulos, have urged voters to reject it.

If either community votes "No" on 24 April, then the whole of Cyprus will still technically join the EU on 1 May, but membership will in effect apply only in the Greek sector.

That would leave the already-poorer Turkish Cypriots without the benefits of membership.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkish troops invaded in response to a short-lived Greek Cypriot coup.