The Chinese vessel was believed to be carrying three million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1 500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3 000 mortar rounds and mortar tubes destined for Zimbabwe.
Early last week President Mugabe’s right hand man, Emmerson Mnangagwa had held talks with the Angolan leader Eduardo dos Santos.
Although details of Mnangagwa’s visit were not officially disclosed, sources said he was trying to persuade Luanda to allow the Chinese ship carrying arms for Harare to offload its cargo in Luanda after dock workers in South Africa blocked the vessel from unloading the weapons at Durban port.
Quoting Angola’s dock workers union the, country’s Coordination Council for Human Rights (CCDH), told the media on Saturday that some containers had been offloaded, but that there was no information as to their contents.
The Angolan government had announced on Friday that it would allow the An Yue Jiang to offload Angola-bound cargo but not the weapons destined for Zimbabwe’s army.
The CCDH, to which the dock workers union belongs, failed in its bid earlier last week to get a court injunction against the entry of the Chinese ship into Angolan ports.
African and international opponents of the arms shipment have argued that the munitions could be used by Harare in its crackdown against the opposition in the country’s post-election crisis.
The Chinese government had announced on Thursday that the ship, which had not been reported as carrying cargo for Angola, would be recalled home due to the lack of authorisations to offload in South Africa and Mozambique. – ZimOnline
Post published in: News