Cyprus coalition partner calls for unity government

The junior partner in Cyprus's two-party coalition on Thursday urged sweeping changes and the formation of a "non-partisan" administration, a sign of growing dissent with the government after a deadly munitions blast.
"It would be ideal … in such crucial times to form a national unity government of popular acceptance and support," Democratic Party (DIKO) Chairman Marios Garoyian told a news conference.
The centre-left government of President Demetris Christofias has faced fierce public criticism since the July 11 blast, which killed 13 people and knocked out Cyprus's largest power station, triggering rolling power cuts.
"We demand and expect a genuine change in the manner of government and not a reallocation of powers and positions," Garoyian said.
He said the party expected any changes to result in a broad-based and, if possible, non-partisan administration. He did not say what steps DIKO would take if such a government was not formed.
Christofias's Communist AKEL party, which wields power with DIKO, also said on Thursday it wanted a broad cabinet reshuffle.
His foreign affairs and defence ministers, whose departments had handled a confiscated cargo of Iranian munitions which caused the blast, resigned after the incident.
Thousands of Cypriots have staged protests in the past week, denting the popularity of the government and Christofias, elected for a five-year term in February 2008. Christofias leads the Greek Cypriot community in reunification talks with Turkish Cypriots on the ethnically split island.
The munitions were confiscated from a ship sailing from Iran to Syria in 2009 for violating U.N. sanctions on Iran. Storing the cargo under scorching conditions — a factor thought to be primarily responsible for the blast — has enraged the public who view it the result of negligence.