A platoon of Chilean soldiers joined the Argentinian contingent of UNFICYP on the island in April.

Before the inspection ceremony, Bachelet held talks in Nicosia with her Cypriot counterpart Koullis Mavronicolas and Foreign Minister George Iacovou.

"Chile is commited to a peaceful resolution on Cyprus, and as a member of the UN Security Council Chile supports all actions which lead to peace in the world," Bachelet told reporters.

"I've come to Cyprus to tell the government we will continue to participate in UNFICYP with Chilean soldiers as part of the Argentine contingent," she added.

Mavronicolas thanked Chile on behalf of Cyprus for its "contribution and participation" in maintaining the peace along the ceasefire line.

Around 30 Chileans came during the last rotation of UNFICY troops in early April and were incorporated in the Argentine contingent following an agreement between the two Latin American neighbours.

The 400-strong Argentine peacekeeping contingent is the largest in UNFICYP, but the arrival of the Chileans has not increased its number as it allowed other soldiers to leave.

The other major contributors in the 1,200-plus UN force are Britain, Slovakia and Hungary.

The annual bill for maintaining UN peacekeepers to patrol the 180-kilometre (110-mile) ceasefire line between the Turkish-occupied north and the Greek Cypriot south is around 43 million dollars a year.

A third of the cost is paid for by the Cyprus government, with Greece pledging about six million dollars a year. The six-monthly mandate of UNFICYP, the world's longest serving peacekeeping force, is up for renewal this month.

Tensions have eased on Cyprus recently, with the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) allowing free passage across the Green Line for the first time since the Turkish invasion of 1974.

But a UN plan to achieve a settlement to the Cyprus problem collapsed earlier this year.

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