US embassy cables | Malta’s near-miss in Cyprus munitions explosions

The high explosives that exploded at a naval base in Cyprus this week, killing 12 and injuring 62, were nearly destined for Malta under a proposal by the Cypriots to get rid of the explosives.

A Wikileaks cable reveals that the ammunition arrived in Nicosia in 2009 on the Monchegorsk, a ship that was caught breaking UN sanctions by illegally carrying arms from Iran to Syria. The cargo of high explosives was later offloaded in Limassol in February 2009 and stored in shipping containers – which exploded on Monday at the Evangelos Florakis base. The explosion caused another fire at Vassiliko electricity plant, one kilometre away from the base, collapsing its fuel tankers and cutting power supply to main parts of the island.

According to two US embassy cables, released just weeks ago by Wikileaks, US ambassador Frank Urbancic demanded that Cyprus – unhappy about having to detain the ship because of its proximity to Syria – does not allow the Monchegork to depart.

On its part, Cyprus wrote to the United Nations’ Iran Sanctions Committee to put the ship in the possession of the UN and asked the Russians to support its tack in New York.

“[Presidential diplomatic coordinator Leonidas] Pantelide called back at 1300hrs, a touch frazzled and with a completely different message. ‘We want to find a way through this mess,’ the Cypriot diplomat insisted… Now Cyprus wanted to explore a third-country transfer option.”

That third country, Urbancic wrote, turned out to be Malta – an idea floated “unofficially” by Pantelides.

“France and Italy had been too ‘high profile’ for a third-party transfer, he explained. Nieghboring Malta, however, was tiny, and RoC President Demetris Christofias would be comfortable dealing with the Maltese,” Urbancic writes.

Cyprus’s thinking would have entailed ordering the ship and cargo to Malta where the containers would be offloaded. The Monchegorsk would depart, and the Maltese would take appropriate action in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions.

Pantelides did not reveal however whether he had floated this proposal with Malta. Urbancic noted that Cyprus wanted to resist offloading the Monchegorsk, and that the EU was “turning put the heat” on the small member state.

But the Malta offer never did flesh out, and it seems the island was spared from the pressure of taking on the illegal ammunitions.

Interestingly, another cable by Urbancic paraphrases comments by UK High Commissioner Peter Millett that describe both Cyprus and Malta as sharing “a common (and perhaps paranoid) worldview.”

According to the British diplomat, Malta “likely would be receptive to EU support for this type of solution to a UN resolution violation.”

“It would take some effort to convince the Maltese it was in their own self-interest to take the Monchegorsk burden off Cyprus… That said, there were no apparent Syrian pressure points on Malta, unlike on Cyprus.”

Sabotage ruled out

Authorities have ruled out sabotage in the explosions, and have confirmed that the accident was caused by munitions stored in 98 shipping containers.

In the surrounding villages, there were damages to property, particularly in Zygi village. A bank and butcher located around two kilometres away from the base suffered broken windows and shattered doorways. So far there have been no reports of serious injuries.

The highway, located one kilometre away from the naval base, was littered with debris from the explosion, and there were cars with shattered windows parked on the shoulder. Highway signs were twisted and blown off their stands from the force of the explosion.