Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash offered Thursday to clear mines around the divided Cypriot capital, in a move he presented as a fresh goodwill gesture to rival Greek Cypriots.

"Today I sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, informing him that Turkish Cypriot authorities are ready to hold discussions with UN officials on the clearing of mines .... to contribute to efforts to achieve a comprehensive solution in the island," Denktash said.

The veteran nationalist leader, blamed by the United Nations and Greek Cypriots for the failure of a reunification deal in March, has recently proposed a series of confidence-building measures, but all have been rejected.

Greek Cypriots charge that Denktash is manoeuvring to avoid international pressure for a comprehensive settlement to the 29-year-old division of the island.

Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos welcomed Denktash's demining offer but noted that the Greek Cypriot side had already offered to remove their landmines from the entire buffer zone not just Nicosia.

"I'm glad Mr Denktash has responded to a request we submitted two months ago," said Papadopoulos.

He added that a specific programme for demining had already been forwarded to the UN.

The Greek Cypriots are committed to unilaterally removing an estimated 2,308 anti-personnel and anti-tank mines from a total 11 National Guard minefields inside the buffer zone.

It is thought that the Turkish army has 28 minefield of their own along the 180-kilometre (110-mile) UN-manned ceasefire line where an estimated 17,000 mines are laid.

Cyprus is set to join the European Union in May 2004. Brussels says it will admit only the internationally recognized Greek Cypriot south if reunification is not agreed in time.

The island has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey occupied the Turkish Cypriot north in response to an Athens-engineered coup aimed at annexing Cyprus to Greece.

The United Nations last week rejected as impracticable a Turkish Cypriot offer to open a new crossing point through the buffer zone because of the continued presence of mines in the area.AFP