One of the closest aides to Cyprus' President Glafcos Clerides, Attorney-General Alecos Markides, says he will run against him in elections just before a peace deal deadline.

Correspondents say the announcement could complicate United Nations efforts to clinch a deal on reunification of the island by 28 February.

The road towards resolving the Cyprus issue is not going to be an easy one, and possibly not a short one either Alecos Markides

Mr Markides has been the president's senior adviser on the UN-sponsored negotiations aimed at ending the confrontation between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.

His announcement comes just a day after Mr Clerides said he would seek re-election on 16 February.

Mediators fear that if no deal is reached on reunification by the deadline the island will join the European Union divided, entrenching the split that has existed since Turkey invaded the north in 1974.

Independent candidate

Mr Clerides has said he is seeking only a short presidential term to allow him to oversee the planned entry of Cyprus into the EU in May 2004.

"I officially announce my independent candidature, which is above party politics, for the forthcoming presidential elections," Mr Markides said on Saturday.

Mr Markides is not seen as offering any radical alternative to Mr Clerides' policies on the Cyprus problem.

He warned that the road to reunification was "not going to be an easy one, and possibly not a short one either".

Mr Clerides has already served two five-year terms in office since 1993, and in the past he had said he would not seek re-election.

But in the current circumstances, the veteran 83-year-old leader said, it was a "historic duty".

Reunification lynchpin

The BBC's correspondent in Nicosia, Tabitha Morgan, says Mr Clerides is personally committed to reunification and his personal authority will prove a great asset if it is necessary to persuade the Greek Cypriot population to swallow unpalatable changes.

Clerides: Pressure is on to get a deal

Mr Clerides warned that he needed a national mandate to continue the reunification process.

Negotiations are due to resume on 7 January and on 13 January UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy on Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, will arrive for talks.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey took control of one third of the country in the north, prompted by an Athens-supported coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan published a comprehensive peace plan in November, in the hope of reaching broad agreement on reunification by the EU's Copenhagen summit the following month.

Both sides have raised objections to certain aspects of the plan, which envisages a Swiss-style confederation of two equal component states.

On Thursday, the leader of Turkey's governing party, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, urged the Turkish Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, to try harder to negotiate a resolution.

Mr Erdogan is keen to resolve the conflict in order to promote Turkey's bid to join the EU. However the Turkish army backs Mr Denktash's hard line.