Reaching a deal to end decades of conflict in Cyprus will be difficult, but is possible, the UN envoy for the divided island said Monday as a fresh round of peace talks began. "We are now in the final moment. We are now really at the moment of truth," Espen Barth Eide told reporters in Geneva after rival Cypriot leaders resumed negotiations.

He said the talks had made a good start, but acknowledged that while most issues had been solved, some of the topics left to be agreed upon were "the most complicated or most emotional issues". "This is going to be difficult," he said, but added: "It is possible." His comments came after Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci, who have negotiated for more than 18 months in the run-up to the talks, sat down for around four hours of negotiations Monday.

Barth Eide said the UN was not mediating the talks, but merely facilitating them. The two sides are set to meet for three days in Geneva, and by Wednesday they should be ready to provide maps of their proposals for the internal boundaries of a future bi-zonal federation on the eastern Mediterranean island. If that goes to plan, they will be joined from Thursday by the leaders of the island's three guarantor powers - former colonial ruler Britain, Greece and Turkey.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017