Minister resigns amid political crisis

Foreign Minister Paulo Jorge Espirito Santo has resigned from the government amid a growing political crisis as the island nation is nearly paralysed by a civil service strike, Lusa reported on Thursday. In a letter written on 29 March and made public on Wednesday, Santo said he was resigning because he lacked the "psychological conditions" to continue in his post. His resignation came amid talk that the minister of labour and public administration, Emilio Lima, also planned to step down. The civil service strike launched their open-ended strike on 20 March demanding a rise in the minimum wage from 40,000 dobras to 350,000 dobras [7,500 dobras = US $1]. The government had proposed 120,000 dobras.