Zim arms ship heads for Congo

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Michael Hamlyn

Cape Town - The cargo of Chinese arms for Zimbabwe is now heading for Congo Brazzaville, according the South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu), where the union believes a further attempt will be made to unload the weapons.

The Durban-based inspectorate of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), which has been monitoring the cargo ship Au Yue Jiang, is itself flying to Brazzaville to make sure that the weapons are not off-loaded there.

A Satawu statement issued on Thursday said that the union could confirm that the ship docked in the port of Lobito in Angola and off-loaded building materials only. The report from the ITF, the global trade union federation, further confirms that the weapons were not handled by Angolan dockers and therefore not off-loaded.

Satawu said it condemned the Chinese government and the ship owners China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco) for creating a false impression around the world that they had recalled the vessel.

"This so-called recall was clearly only intended to deceive and remove the massive groundswell of political pressure that had built up in a very short period of time," the union said.

"Both the Chinese government and Cosco have regrettably demonstrated that profiteering remains the overriding consideration over human solidarity and saving lives. It appears a judgement call has been made by them to wait around until the Zimbabwean electoral crisis is over. It will be a long wait in the context of avoiding a return trip and wasted expenditure."

Satawu again called on all African governments and dock workers to refuse the vessel docking access and to refuse to handle the weapons with a view to ensuring that the vessel leaves African shores immediately.

"We call on the United Nations to bring pressure to bear on the Chinese government to demonstrate their commitment to recall and stop using the politics of deception," the union said.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)