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Zimbabwe: China Denies Weapons Delivery
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
22 May 2008
Posted to the web 22 May 2008
Christof Maletsky
Windhoek
AS the mystery around the six container-loads of arms destined for Zimbabwe deepened, the Chinese government yesterday denied that the ship An Yue Jiang had delivered the consignment of weapons.
The Political Counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Namibia, Lin Jing, said reports about the delivery were "groundless and purely fictitious", as their sources had given them information to the contrary.
"If the arms are delivered, I will say they are. If not, I will say not," Lin said. Zimbabwe's deputy information minister Bright Matonga told the media over the weekend that they had taken delivery of the lethal cargo, consisting of three million rounds of assault rifle ammunition, 3 000 mortar rounds and 1 500 rocket-propelled grenades. "This is something I really can't explain. The best is to seek his side [of the story]," Lin said when asked why Matonga had confirmed delivery. Lin could also not give the current location of the ship or when it was expected back in China. According to him, the arms were a small part of the cargo on the ship, but it was heading home.
As Matonga confirmed that the weapons had been received, South Africa's Business Day newspaper and the Mozambican online newspaper Canal de Moçambique this week published details of how the vessel got the weapons to Harare. Both claimed the arms were flown from the Congo-Brazzaville port of Ponta Negra to Harare in giant transport aircraft belonging to Avient Aviation, a UK-registered freight charter airline operating out of Zimbabwe. However, a spokesperson of Avient Aviation yesterday denied any involvement in the transport of the cargo. He said such reports were "false", as none of their aircraft had landed in Zimbabwe since February this year. The Namibian is also in possession of a letter from the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe, which states that the Ilyushin Il-76 belonging to Avient Aviation was last in that country on February 10. Civil society groups earlier expressed fear that President Robert Mugabe was planning to use force to storm back to power in the presidential runoff election that will be held on June 27.
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He has already deployed the army, police and intelligence units across Zimbabwe to campaign for him through intimidation and coercive tactics, prompting the United Nations to warn of violence getting out of hand.
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