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US petitioning countries to block arms shipment

The US is intervening with governments in southern Africa to prevent a Chinese ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe’s security forces from unloading its cargo.

The US State Department’s top Africa hand, Jendayi Frazer, plans to visit this week to underscore US concerns about the shipment.

US intelligence agencies are tracking the vessel, the An Yue Jiang, and US diplomats have been instructed to press authorities in at least four nations — South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Angola — not to allow it to dock, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

The ship has been turned away from South Africa and Mozambique and is now believed to be headed for Angola, possibly with a refueling stop in Namibia. The freighter left South Africa after a judge on Friday barred the arms from transiting South Africa and it was not immediately clear if US lobbying had influenced authorities in Mozambique, who stopped it from docking over the weekend.

Two officials said Washington’s effort to block the ship from unloading its cargo was now concentrated on Namibia and Angola and that both countries were being told that letting it dock could harm their relations with the US.

There are fears that the arms, which include mortar grenades and bullets, could be used by Mugabe’s regime to expand a clampdown on opposition supporters.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) called the military shipment a normal commercial transaction. She said the contract on the shipment was signed last year and that the shipment was not related to the internal situation in Zimbabwe.

“The issue should not be politicized,” she said.

South Africa’s main trade union confederation has called on workers in other African countries to follow the example of South African dock and freight workers who said on Friday they would not unload the ship or transport its cargo.
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