UNITED NATIONS, May 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Wednesday to resume their efforts to search for ways of reuniting the divided Mediterranean island and indicated his intention to resume mediation between the two sides.

    "At this juncture, it is important for the parties to resume contacts and to begin to think about how to re-engage in the search for a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus problem," Annan said in a report to the Security Council.

    To this end, the UN chief said, his special representative, Michael Moller, has been encouraging the Greek and Turkish Cypriots to renew contacts.

    Annan said he intended to dispatch UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari to Cyprus, Greece and Turkey in the near future to assess the political situation in and around Cyprus and the prospects for a full resumption of his good offices.

    Over the past six months, the report said, both Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots renewed their calls for a resumption of Annan's mediation efforts. But it added that while there were signals of some willingness to begin to re-engage, there have been no tangible indicators of an evolution in the respective positions.

    In the absence of a comprehensive agreement to resolve the Cyprus problem, the presence of the UN peacekeeping force UNFICYP on the island "continues to be necessary," the report said.

    Therefore, Annan recommended the Security Council extend the force's mandate for a further period of six months, until Dec. 15. Enditem