Zimbabwe's Neighbors Unite to Block Ship Carrying Chinese Weapons
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352189,00.html
...yet...in a press release by VOA News on Monday the 18th, it was learned the Arms shipment made it through to the government thugs...JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Zimbabwe's regime got a taste of the international isolation critics say it deserves, with its neighbors uniting to block a shipment of Chinese arms to prevent them from being used against Robert Mugabe's opponents.
Union, church and human rights leaders across southern Africa rallied against allowing the Chinese freighter An Yue Jiang to dock at ports in any of landlocked Zimbabwe's neighbors, and they were bolstered by behind-the-scenes pressure from the United States.
In the end, governments usually unwilling to criticize Mugabe barred the ship at a time when Zimbabwe's government is being accused of cracking down on dissenters.
On Tuesday, church leaders in Zimbabwe said people were being tortured, abducted and murdered in a campaign of retribution against opposition supporters following the March 29 election, and urged international intervention.
In Washington, the State Department said it had urged countries in southern Africa — notably South Africa, Mozambique, Angola and Namibia — not to allow the ship to dock or unload. It also asked the Chinese government to recall the vessel and not to make further weapons shipments to Zimbabwe until the postelection crisis is resolved.
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Dock Workers Refuse to Unload Chinese Arms Shipment to Zimbabwe China insisted the shipment of mortar grenades, ammunition and other weapons was part of "normal military product trade between the two countries," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
"As far as I know, the carrier is now considering carrying back the cargo," she added.
Press Reports Say Chinese Weapons Reach Zimbabwe
http://voanews.com/english/2008-05-18-voa4.cfm
Media reports say 77 tons of Chinese-supplied weapons have arrived in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, despite international efforts to keep the government there from receiving the arms.
Newspapers in South Africa and Mozambique say Zimbabwe's Information Minister Bright Matonga has confirmed delivery of the weapons...
...South African unions refused to unload the ship because of concern the weapons would be used against opponents of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
Human rights groups say Mugabe supporters are beating, torturing, and killing opposition supporters ahead of a presidential runoff election June 27.
The United States had pressured southern African countries not to unload the weapons from the Chinese vessel, the An Yue Jiang.
South African officials are denying reports that President Thabo Mbeki ordered his country's navy to refuel the Chinese ship off the South African coast.
The weapons now in Harare are said to include some three million rounds of ammunition, 3,000 mortar rounds, and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades.
