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Zimbabwe: Chinese Ship in Durban 'Carrying Arms for Harare'
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
17 April 2008
Posted to the web 17 April 2008
David Christianson
Durban
A Chinese ship allegedly carrying armaments for the Zimbabwean army was cleared to dock in Durban yesterday afternoon, following a long wait for clearance outside the harbour.
The vessel An Yue Jiang, owned by the parastatal Chinese Ocean Shipping Company, was the subject of intense speculation as it spent the day marooned in the far reaches of Durban's outer anchorage. News reports suggested it had been denied permission to dock.
The Democratic Alliance 's spokesperson on defence, Rafeek Shah, said the vessel was alleged to be carrying several container-loads of weapons for the Zimbabwe Defence Force, including mortars, more than 3000 mortar bombs and 1500 rocket-propelled grenades.
However, the vessel's captain, in a radio phone interview with Sapa, denied that it was carrying "dangerous cargo".
Shah's information is that the ship is carrying 3800 cases of weaponry and ammunition in six containers, that the delivery address is the Zimbabwe Defence Force, Causeway, Harare, and the point of origin on the cargo manifest is Beijing.
Transnet's statement said only that SA's ports did handle "sensitive cargo" from time to time. "We have to comply with a number of international protocols -- like the International Ship and Port Security Code and the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code," it said.
Shah asked about compliance with SA's own National Conventional Arms Control Act, which prohibits exporting arms to conflict zones.
"Doesn't that act prohibit SA from exporting arms into situations of civil conflict?" he said. "Surely this also applies to transshipments?"
Shah pointed out that this occasion offered an example of how SA could put pressure on the Mugabe regime.
Sanctions would have to be a Southern African Development Community initiative -- if not a measure of the New Partnership for Africa's Development -- he argued, or the armaments could simply be imported by Zimbabwe's defence force through another country.
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A Durban lawyer said that any armaments imports -- even for transshipment to another country -- had to comply with "rigid procedures". This was the case, he said, "irrespective of whether you are talking about a single cartridge or an F16".
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