Arms ship blocked at ports returns to China

A SHIPMENT of Chinese arms bound for Zimbabwe will be recalled after South African port workers refused to unload the vessel and neighbouring countries barred it from their ports, China said yesterday.

The recall of the An Yue Jiang, carrying 77 tonnes of assault rifle ammunition, mortars and rifle grenades, came after unprecedented regional opposition and Western pressure over Zimbabwe’s election crisis.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference in Beijing that the ship is to be recalled after it was unable to offload its cargo.

“To my knowledge, the Chinese company has decided to recall the ship and the relevant goods bound for Zimbabwe,” Jiang said.

She defended the shipment in the face of criticism from New York-based Human Rights Watch, which said any state that sent arms and ammunition to Zimbabwe could be complicit in the country’s rights abuses. Zambia had also said the weapons could worsen Zimbabwe’s crisis.

The European Union already has an arms embargo against Zimbabwe which bars the 27 EU states from supplying arms or equipment intended for military operations.

The US has also imposed sanctions.

Jacob Zuma, leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, said it was not yet time to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe.

Zuma, who has become the most outspoken African leader on Zimbabwe, was in London after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, one of Mugabe’s harshest critics.

“I don’t think we have reached the stage for arms embargo, I think it is going too far and I think it complicates a situation that needs to be handled with great care,” Zuma told a press briefing in London.

Zuma, who has distanced himself from the quiet diplomacy of South African President Thabo Mbeki over Zimbabwe, has called on African leaders to take action to unlock the stalemate in Zimbabwe, which is also suffering economic collapse.