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Zimbabwe: Arms Ship Waits Off Luanda, Say Unionists
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1 May 2008
Posted to the web 1 May 2008
Cape Town
The Chinese ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe is anchored off Luanda and shows no sign of returning to China, says the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF).
In a statement issued on Thursday, the ITF general secretary, David Cockroft, said the federation trusted that the vessel, the An Yue Jiang, was waiting only to refuel and "that no attempt will be made to land any of its cargo of arms."
The ITF said although there were 20 ships waiting to dock in Luanda ahead of the An Yue Jiang, "there is no guarantee that it will not be allowed in ahead of them, allowing it to arrive before or during tomorrow's national holiday in Angola."
The An Yue Jiang sailed for Angola 10 days ago after it was prevented from offloading its cargo, first in Durban, South Africa, and then in other ports on the east coast of Africa.
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In a news conference in Beijing on April 24, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said that "according to my knowledge, [the] relevant Chinese company has decided to ship back the cargo that [it] was due to deliver to Zimbabwe." The An Yue Jiang is operated by the state-owned China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO).
Cockcroft said that neither COSCO nor the Chinese government had given "any definitive promise" not to offload weapons in Angola. He added: "We can promise that the world will be watching what happens next."
The ITF said its Angolan affiliated, the Federacao dos Sindicatos dos Trabalhadores dos Transportes e Comunicacoes de Angola (FSTTCA), had declared on Thursday its members would refuse to unload any arms bound for Zimbabwe from the ship.
Get over it! Zimbabwe paid for the weapons last year and it is for the defense of Zimbabwe against foreign intruders. Who gave you the right to tell Zimbabwe what to do! Sure white South Africa has no control of the Unions in Angola and you are basically ineffective there.
Phiri,
Be real; you know what Mugabe is capable of doing to his own people. These arms are not for the hunting of rhinos or elephants, but to hunt the opponents of Mugabe. Don't forget the 20 thousand opponents he butchered in the 80's. Mugabe is afraid of his own shadow. He has so much skeletons under his bed, he's afraid to leave the stage.
The biggest weapons today is freedom and justice. No amount of weapon can save Mugabe. He's done. The man is worse than Ian Smith.
Power to the people !!!!!!!
Angolan Union Workers should follow the step of other African countries in taking a stand against the Bob Mugabe's regime.Most of the continent has experienced the devastation egomaniacs bring to our people. After 28 years, Mugabo has proven the point about his leadership, he nows needs to let go and allow other to redress the situation. I believe he has a last chance to peacefully step down and die in peace.The alternative is to hang on power till death and leave the chaos his friend Mobutu left for the congolese.The choice is clear. Finally,despite all the negative news that... [Read Full Text]
Paid or not everyone knows Mugabe and his regimes capabilty to wreak havoc so when peoplees lives are at stake, you bet it can be stopped from unloading. It is a very sad thing to see the goverment buy weapons but many of it's own people inside the country are going hungry. That alone tells you that Mugabe and his regime could care less about the people of Zimbabwe. They are just trying whatever they can to hold on to power b/c they know once they are out many will be tried for war crimes and imprisoned. ... [Read Full Text]
Phiri, give it up. You're a thoughtless bafoon! I'm sure you're benefiting from the existence of the murderous Mugabe regime. What goes up must come down and your uncle Mugabe is coming down. You can't stop the rain. You can only run away from it.
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