The president of Cyprus lost a key ally on Tuesday, weakening the ruling coalition just as the island's press said the recent destruction of a power station by a munitions blast might push the economy into recession.
Foreign Minister Markos Kyprianou, a former European Health Commissioner, who had said he would resign over the massive explosion, confirmed his decision at a meeting on Tuesday with President Demetris Christofias, saying it was dictated by his conscience.
"I also believe it assists the president himself and facilitates him in taking decisions and initiatives called for by the circumstances," Kyprianou said. He did not elaborate, but media speculation suggested Kyprianou would be blamed for the disaster.
Kyprianou is an influential member of the Democratic Party (Diko), the junior partner in Christofias's centre-left coalition. His departure could herald the exit of the party from the government forged with Christofias's communist AKEL party.
The July 11 explosion of 98 containers full of confiscated Iranian munitions, stored at a naval base, knocked out Cyprus's largest power plant at Vassiliko and killed 13 seamen and firefighters.
Thousands of Cypriots took to the streets in an unprecedented display of anger at the lax storage conditions of the munitions, demanding Christofias' resignation.
"I have never seen such dissatisfaction and high levels of emotion. Its an explosive mix," said political analyst Hubert Faustmann.
REUNIFICATION TALKS
Christofias is engaged in talks with Turkish Cypriots on reunifying the ethnically divided island, ending a separation which could harm Turkey's bid to join the European Union.
The United Nations, which is overseeing the talks, says it wants a deal by the time Cyprus takes over the rotating EU presidency in July 2012. Further political turmoil could throw the process into limbo.
Christofias's failure to apologise for the blast has angered Cypriots, who have called him a criminal and a murderer. Christofias said that while the public had a right to demonstrate and demand resignations, "it does not mean that I accept it."
Cypriot media forecast on Tuesday that the destruction of the island's biggest power station was likely to cut economic growth this year to zero, from a previous forecast of 1.5%, and lead to recession in 2012.
The island, one of the euro zone's smallest members, emerged from recession in the first quarter of 2010.
The defence minister and army chief resigned hours after the explosion. The munitions were confiscated from a ship sailing from Iran to Syria in 2009 in violation of U.N. sanctions on Iran.
Kyprianou's ministry was involved in the confiscation of the arms and handled the political fallout with Iran and Syria.
The cargo was stored a few hundred metres away from the power station on the south coast for more than two years in often scorching conditions, despite appeals from army officers for its removal.
