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Zimbabwe: China Ships Arms of War to Country
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SW Radio Africa (London)
16 April 2008
Posted to the web 16 April 2008
Tichaona Sibanda
China has secretly shipped tens of thousands of small arms to the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, raising fears the consignment has been brought in to crush any attempts to unseat Robert Mugabe from power.
The consignment has cost the regime millions of United States dollars and came through Durban harbour in a Chinese registered vessel, An Yue Juang.
It includes 3 million rounds of ammunition for AK47 rifles, the standard assault weapon for the country's defence forces. There were also 1,500 rocket propelled grenades, a support weapon for the infantry, plus 3,500 mortar bombs.
Martin Welz, editor of Noseweek a Durban based investigative magazine, told Newsreel on Wednesday they were in possession of the shipping documentation of six containers addressed to the Ministry of Defence in Harare. The arms were bought from a Chinese arms company called Poly Technologies, based in Beijing.
'The ship did in fact dock in Durban between the 10th and 13th April and the six containers weigh between 8 to 15 tonnes, Welz said.
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He added; 'There is also the declared policy of the commander of the defence forces Chiwenga, that he will not recognise a democratically elected president unless it happens to be Mugabe. Zimbabwe is not at war with anyone, so the purchase of such an arms consignment should be very worrying.'
With arms moving into Zim from China, SADC is about to move from being negligent in its duties to being complicit in serious human rights violations.
Just DON'T blame the West when we have Rwanda type massacres in Zim. The fingers all point to SADC - the weekend ambivalence in Zambia and again Mbeki at the security council.
It must be hard for the Zim population to stand up against a tyrant when they have no support from neighbouring countries. One reason why the anti-apartheid movement worked is because support outside SA was clear and profound.
It's amazing that some Zimbaweans cannot see the obvious "Usual Suspects" standing all around them--namely the UK and the US!
Maybe Mugabe could have handled the land seizure issue a little differently, however make no mistake about this--THE FINANCIAL MELTDOWN WAS CAUSED BY MACHINATIONS OF THE BUSH AND BLAIR ADMINISTRATIONS. A US Senate bill passed in 2001 was specifically designed to "make the Zimbabwean economy scream."
And scream it did! It's still screaming--and will continue to scream until Mugabe finds a way to separate Zimbabwe's economy from the US/UK Financial System.
The MDC is a PUPPET POLITICAL GROUP... [Read Full Text]
So what if the puppet masters are hanging around? Does anyone care? I think I speak for most of the population who voted and the millions that have left the country when I say it is better to be under a puppet than be denied basic human rights by our brothers who have let their greed drag them to the dark side. Even if there was the slightest bit of truth in the allegations that you make about the UK and US masterminding the downfall of the Zim economy, are they the ones who also advised Bob and his cronies... [Read Full Text]
this arms shipment was met with diplomatic pressure by America...yet America itself violated UN embargo laws with their "secret" arms to Somalia....Africans better take Chinese weapons while they can...because Americans are only playing you like fools....
the US military strike at will on targets in Somalia through war planes killing civils in the process at will, then say other foreign nations are intent on harming impoverish African citizens for their own strategic goals and purposes.
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