United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan added his signature in Athens at the end of February to a growing list of supporters seeking to stop world conflicts through the Olympic Truce.

Mr Annan's gesture came as he took time out from the mounting Iraq crisis to spearhead international efforts to bring an end to Europe's longest running conflict in Cyprus.

The initiative is based on the Greek concept of Olympic Truce or "Ekecheiria", which was established at the ancient Olympic Games in Greece in the 9th century BC.

"It is, of course, good to support it and to sign it, but we all have to try and practice it, and practice it in our daily lives and in our contacts with people," Mr Annan told the audience at a signing ceremony.

Concrete Action

The UN chief's call echoes the mission of the International Olympic Truce Centre in Athens to turn the commitment of the Olympic Movement to promote its peaceful principles into concrete action.

Greek Foreign Minister and Vice-Chairman of the International Truce Centre, George Papandreou, said Greece will table a new UN resolution in September for an Olympic Truce when Athens hosts the games in 2004.

The Olympic Truce aims to protect, as far as possible, the interests of the athletes and sport in general and to contribute to the search for diplomatic solutions to conflicts around the world.

The UN chief is the latest international figure to join the likes of Nelson Mandela, former US president Bill Clinton and Pope John Paul II in adding their voices to the chorus of support for the revival of the ancient Greek tradition.

Sporting Initiative

Signatories to the Truce engage themselves to apply their creativity and skills to secure a better world for generations to come. They know, however, that peacemaking can be an arduous and thankless task.

An Olympic Truce does not mean the end of the conflict, but is an attempt to utilize sports to create a window of opportunity for dialogue and reconciliation, and to use sport initiatives and ideals to promote peace and understanding during and after the Olympic Games.

Signing on the eve of the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the US, John Paul II said we live in a "troubled and uncertain world".

He called for a "durable truce against all violence, so that the peaceful spirit and healthy stimulation of the Olympic Games are spread throughout society and across the continents."