Cyprus President Demetris Christofias, facing public anger over a munitions blast which killed 12 people and plunged the island into an energy crisis, promised on Thursday to launch a full investigation.
In a national address, Christofias said his government shared the "disappointment, bitterness and even anger" of a public which is furious at how a confiscated cargo of Iranian ammunition triggered Cyprus's worst peacetime disaster.
The blast which took place on Monday has posed the most difficult challenge of Christofias's three-year presidency and triggered unprecedented street protests.
"It is the demand of all that responsibilities are identified and attributed, whatever those may be, from the lowest to the highest level," Christofias said, in his first public appearance since the blast which has drawn calls from protesters for his resignation.
"We will … await the results of the inquiry and then, accordingly, we will address the people again," he said.
Christofias said his government offered its condolences to the victims' families but stopped short of issuing an apology that some had expected. The defence minister and army chief resigned after the incident.
OFFICERS IGNORED
The munitions, confiscated from a ship sailing from Iran to Syria in 2009 for violating U.N. sanctions, had been stored in scorching temperatures in an open field next to a 700-million-euro power station. The station was destroyed, knocking out more than 50 percent of the island’s power supply.
Official documents have shown army officers had expressed concerns in the past about storage conditions of the cargo, but were ignored. The presidency has repeatedly denied it was aware of deteriorating storage conditions at the naval base.
Christofias has been under pressure, even from his coalition partners, for being slow to address economic problems, and for controversial reunification proposals on the island, ethnically split between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Thousands marched through the capital Nicosia on Tuesday, with some calling for Christofias to resign. The protest turned violent when a group of nationalists pelted the presidential compound with stones, and police used teargas on the crowds.
"Nobody can be turned into a judge and juror," Christofias said. He compared the handful of protesters who "tried to burn the presidential palace" to nationalist actions which toppled the government in 1974, triggering a Turkish invasion.
Christofias has been criticised of bunkering himself at the Presidential palace throughout the crisis and leaks in the media suggest that the foreign minister may become the scapegoat for maintaining a wait-and-see policy from the government that reportedly did not want to harm relations with Syria.
The administration has even suggested that the delays in responding to calls to remove and destroy the arms cache, as suggested by France and Germany, were the fault of the United Nations sanctions committee on Iran.
“DO US A FAVOUR…”
Former defence minister and opposition official Sokratis Hasikos reiterated his call for the president to resign.
In a statement issued shortly after the conclusion of the funerals of the victims, Hasikos accused Christofias of “not listening to experts and his own advisors to remove the deadly shipment from Cyprus. If the president has realised the magnitude of the destruction… he has no option but to resign. This would be his greatest service to the nation.”
