Somebody like Red China just missed some big mulah due to the AK-47's
delivering problem.
tuna,
On Apr 23, 10:28 am, HGoering <kink...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> DON'T FORGET ...
>
> "Delivery of Weapons to Zimbabwe Thwarted"
>
> "Southern African Nations Keep Chinese Ship From Unloading"
>
> By Craig Timberg
> Washington Post Foreign Service
> Wednesday, April 23, 2008; A12
>
> JOHANNESBURG, April 22 -- A Chinese ship carrying weapons and
> ammunition for Zimbabwe's military may be headed back home, reports
> said, after repeated attempts to deliver its cargo were frustrated by
> a coalition of legal activists, union workers and human rights groups.
>
> The region's resistance to the shipment, which drew praise from the
> United States on Tuesday, marks a dramatic turn from southern Africa's
> traditional embrace of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe and its
> reverence for national sovereignty.
>
> It also signals the strength of South Africa's mounting backlash
> against President Thabo Mbeki's traditionally deferential dealings
> with Mugabe. The resistance from union workers, almost all of whom are
> members of his African National Congress, was decisive in preventing
> the ship from unloading its cargo of bullets and mortars on schedule.
>
> The 489-foot An Yue Jiang was near the Cape of Good Hope on Tuesday
> night, headed northwest at a modest speed, according to Lloyd's Marine
> Intelligence Unit, based in London. But Chinese Foreign Ministry
> spokeswoman Jiang Yu said that because the shipment could not be
> unloaded, despite being part of a "perfectly normal trade," the cargo
> would probably return to China. Jiang added that she hoped the
> incident would not be "politicized."
>
> The ship has sparked international concern at a time when the
> political stalemate in Zimbabwe over the Mugabe government's failure
> to release results from a March 29 presidential vote has turned
> increasingly violent. There have been widespread reports of beatings,
> torture and killings of opposition activists.
>
> Rights activists have warned since last week that the cargo of the
> ship, owned by the China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, was part of
> Mugabe's plan to intensify his crackdown. Union groups throughout
> southern Africa have refused to unload the ship or deliver its
> contents to landlocked Zimbabwe. Authorities in Angola and Mozambique
> have said the ship is not welcome.
>
> Zimbabwe officials have repeatedly defended their right to have the
> weaponry delivered but have been frustrated so far.
>
> "The ship has become such a rallying point," said Nicole Fritz,
> director of the Southern Africa Litigation Center, which has led the
> legal assault on the shipment. "It's become a focus of so many people
> who have been frustrated about what's happening in Zimbabwe."
>
> U.S. officials have been among those pressuring southern African
> nations to block the delivery.
>
> "We don't think it's appropriate at this point, given the political
> upheaval that's occurring in Zimbabwe, for anyone to be adding extra
> tinder to that situation by providing additional weapons to Zimbabwe
> security forces," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told
> reporters Tuesday. "We're pleased to see that many countries in the
> region refused to either accept this vessel in their ports or to
> offload those weapons."
>
> The An Yue Jiang first ran into trouble last week when news reports in
> South Africa revealed its contents, including 3 million rounds for
> AK-47 assault rifles. Zimbabwe's military has been chronically short
> of ammunition -- and most other basic supplies -- in recent years as
> the nation's economy has collapsed and inflation has surged past
> 100,000 percent.
>
> A court in Durban, South Africa, where the ship initially docked,
> blocked its unloading in a temporary order that rights activists are
> seeking to make permanent. Union workers have been at least as crucial
> in hindering delivery. The ship is also reported to be low on fuel.
>
> Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit said in a news release Monday
> evening, however, that the ship still had numerous options. There are
> 32 ports capable of handling the load south of the equator in Africa,
> it said. The ship also has six cranes, making it possible to transfer
> cargo at sea. The news release said that the Chinese Ocean Shipping
> (Group) Company had two ships in the area capable of taking the
> weapons on board. An airlift might also be possible.
>
> The circuitous movements of the An Yue Jiang fixated South Africans as
> the ship moved north toward Mozambique, then back toward Angola before
> disappearing from tracking mechanisms. Its reappearance Tuesday
> evening, along with the Chinese Foreign Ministry's comments, spurred
> cautious optimism that the weapons will never reach the Zimbabwean
> military.
>
> [Correspondent Jill Drew in Beijing contributed to this report.]
>
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/22/AR200...
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