PRESIDENT Christofias was adding insult to injury when he offered his sympathy and condolences to the families of the people who were killed in yesterday’s massive explosion at the Evangelos Florakis naval base. It was not sympathy, but a big personal apology he owed the families who needlessly lost loved ones in a disaster that would have been avoided if our country was run by a less incompetent president.
The indecision and inaction, which have become this government’s signature, were to blame for the deadly explosion which not only killed 12 people, but also completely destroyed a newly-built power station. It was thanks to this indecision that the confiscated cargo of the Cyprus-flagged, Russian-owned ship, Monchegorsk – 98 containers of high explosives and munitions being taken from Iran to Syria – had been at the naval base in Mari since April 2009.
In August of that year, the National Guard and defence ministry had urged the government to dispose of the containers, as they could not be left at the naval base. A gathering to discuss the issue was told the president’s instructions were that the containers were to stay in Mari until after the UN General Assembly and Christofias’ scheduled, official visit to Syria.
Almost two years later the containers were still in Mari, despite a host of memos sent to the defence ministry by the naval base commander – tragically killed in yesterday’s explosion – alerting it to the dangers of keeping the containers in the area. His warnings had also reached the deputies, who chose to stay quiet until after disaster struck.
But it never had to come to this. When the Monchegorsk was diverted to Cyprus in early February 2009, several countries offered to take it off the Cyprus government’s hands – Britain was prepared to take it to the bases, while Germany offered to have it removed. The government declined these offers for fear of alienating the Syrian government and Russia. A subsequent offer to take delivery of the cargo by France was also declined by Christofias, probably acting on Moscow’s orders.
Instead, the 98 containers of high explosives were kept in the fields near the Vassiliko power station, so the president could keep the Syrians and Russians happy. His ideological prejudices also played a part in preventing him handing over the containers to Western countries willing to take them and destroy the content. In fact, the National Guard could also have destroyed explosives, but Christofias refused to give the go-ahead, opting for his favourite policy – doing nothing.
Thanks to his do-nothing style of government, 12 people were killed and the rest of the country will go through the summer with daily power and water cuts. The destruction of the Vassiliko plant has reduced power production by 40 per cent in the months when demand is at its peak. Energy-hungry desalination plants will not be able to pump enough water – the output will be down by about 40 per cent. This could prove the final blow to our struggling economy, which has been driven to the brink of requiring a bailout by presidential ineptitude and inaction.
The defence minister and the National Guard Chief resigned yesterday, but the responsibility for the deadly explosion was not theirs to take. The responsibility belongs to Christofias, who has been an unmitigated disaster as president, causing irreparable damage to the country and creating a very uncertain future for us. And he does not even have the decency to apologise to the families of those who were killed in the explosion.
