Chinese Arms Shipment to Mugabe Might Be Recalled

The shipment is nto be recalled on the count that Mugabe is a tyrant who deserves no support but because South Africa is refusing to handle the cargo. Good for them, now if only the same can be done to Sudan. Guardian

A shipment of arms headed for Zimbabwe may be recalled to China, Beijing's foreign ministry said today.

The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union refused to handle the weapons because of concerns that Robert Mugabe's government might use them against opponents in Zimbabwe's post-election stalemate.

The freighter left South Africa after a judge on Friday barred the arms from passing through the country and Mozambique authorities stopped it from docking over the weekend.

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Zambia's president, Levy Mwanawasa, yesterday urged other countries in the region to bar the An Yue Jiang from entering their waters.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, defended the shipment as "perfectly normal" but said it may be heading back because of its failure to unload.

She said the contract for the cargo was signed last year and was "unrelated to recent developments".

US intelligence agencies are tracking the vessel and American diplomats have been instructed to press authorities in at least four nations — South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Angola — not to allow it to dock.