Zimbabwe weapons ship doubles back

Zimbabwe weapons ship doubles back
IOL 23/4/2008
The United States has asked China to order the ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe to return home. On Tuesday as the ship, identified as the An Yue Jiang, was spotted off Cape Town, US State Department spokesperson Tom Casey said Beijing had been told "to refrain from making additional shipments and, if possible, to bring this one back". ... "We don't think that under the present circumstances, given the current political crisis in Zimbabwe, that now is the time for anyone to be increasing the number of weapons and armaments available in that country," Casey said ... The An Yue Jiang had apparently abandoned its attempt to dock in Namibia or Angola, and turned around to head back around the South African coast. "The vessel is 57 nautical miles south of the Cape of Good Hope," said Lloyd's MIU assistant manager in the casualty department, Stephen Olley, when it was spotted on Tuesday afternoon. "It looks as if she's heading eastbound, possibly towards Dar es Salaam." ... On Tuesday, Sapa-dpa reported that a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the ship's owners, the China Ocean Shipping Company, had decided to recall the vessel because Zimbabwe could not take delivery of the cargo. Spokesperson Jiang Yu said the delivery was "completely normal ... The ship has been trying to find a harbour to offload its cargo of 77 tons of weapons for the Zimbabwe government since it left Durban on Friday to avoid being served with a Durban High Court order blocking transport of the load through SA. The order, brought by Bishop Rubin Phillip, effectively blocks the ship from South African harbours. A second court order granted in Durban gives Germany's KfW development bank the right to seize the cargo in respect of an unpaid Zimbabwean government debt ... Three-quarters of the cases on board contain 1-million rounds of 7,62x54mm used in machineguns and 2-million rounds of 7,62x39mm ammunition, used in AK-47s. The rest of the cases contain 1 500 RPG7 rockets, 3 224 mortar bombs of different sizes and 31 mortar tubes.