Huge arms shipment from China for Mugabe

Canberra Times, Page: 15. Saturday, 19 April, 2008

A Chinese cargo ship believed to be carrying 77 tonnes of small arms, including more than three million rounds of ammunition, AK47 assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, has docked in the South African port of Durban for the transportation of the weapons to Zimbabwe, the South African Government has confirmed.
It claimed yesterday it was powerless to intervene as long as the ship’s papers were in order.
Copies of the documentation for the Chinese ship, the An Yue Jiang, show that the weapons were shipped from Beijing to the Ministry of Defence in Harare. The documents were issued on April 1, three days after Zimbabwe’s election.
It lists the consignment as including 3.5 million rounds of ammunition for AK47 assault rifles and for small arms, 1500 40mm rockets, 2500 mortar shells of 60mm and 81mm calibre, as well as 93 cases of mortar tubes.
The carrier is listed as the Cosco shipping company in China.
South Africa’s national conventional arms control committee issued a permit on Monday for the shipment of the cargo from Durban to Harare.
the head of government information in South Africa, Themba Maseko, said, "We are not in a position to act unilaterally arid interfere in a trade deal between two countries." South Africa had to "tread very carefully", given the complexity of the situation in Zimbabwe, Mr Maseko said. South Africa was "not at all involved" in arrangements for the trans-shipment.
"It’s a matter between the two countries. It would be possible, but very difficult, for South Africa to start intervening and saying that we will not allow the shipment through." Neither was South Africa encouraging the purchase of weapons by Zimbabwe, he said, pointing out that there was no UN trade embargo against that country.
Despite international criticism, the Chinese Government has been a long-standing backer of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian regime, supplying it with jet fighters, military vehicles and guns.
China, or Chinese businesses, are reported to have sold radio jamming devices to prevent independent stations from contradicting the state-controlled media, and have signed vital agriculture deals.
China has in the past used its veto at the UN security council to prevent the Zimbabwe issue from being raised, on the grounds that the country’s problems were an internal matter.
A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said it was aware of the reports about the shipment, but needed time to look into the matter.
The disclosure about the ship’s cargo follows claims by an official from the Zimbabwe Opposition Movement for Democratic Change that Chinese soldiers had been seen in the country.
There were some signs yesterday that South Africa might at last be bending under international pressure, when the cabinet joined calls for the release of Zimbabwe’s election results.