New border crossings open in divided Cyprus

Video. New border crossings open in divided Cyprus, first in 8 years

Cypriot officials opened two new border crossings on Monday for the first time in eight years, marking the latest push for peace by the two sides after UN-backed talks collapsed last year.

Cypriot officials opened two new border crossings on Monday for the first time in eight years, marking the latest push for peace by the two sides after UN-backed talks collapsed last year.

Dozens of people from the island's Greek Cypriot south streamed across the eastern Dherynia border post, walking past United Nations peacekeepers into the breakaway Turkish-backed north.

At the same time, the Lefka or Aplici crossing opened in the northwest of the Mediterranean island.

Ahead of the reopening of the Dherynia crossing, soldiers removed barriers wrapped in rusty barbed wire while a small group of riot police stood by.

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