Zim ship: union to go to court
22/04/2008 17:45  - (SA)  

Zim arms ship destination unclear Arms shipment may be recalled Zim arms meant to 'butcher' Zim ship not allowed in Angola Arms ship 'not in SA waters' Where is Zim arms ship?

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Windhoek - A Namibian rights organisation was preparing on Tuesday to go to court to try to stop a Chinese freighter carrying weapons destined for Zimbabwe from offloading at Walvis Bay in Namibia but port control there said it had received no such request from the vessel.

"We're trying to get a court order to stop the ship from offloading at Walvis Bay," Norman Tjombe, director of the Legal Assistance Centre in Windhoek, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) on Tuesday.

"We have written letters to the relevant ministries to refrain from allowing the ship to dock here and we're preparing papers for the High Court now."

No request to refuel or dock

But port control in Walvis Bay told dpa they had received no request from the vessel to refuel or dock at the port so far and had no idea of its whereabouts.

Speculation in Namibia was rife about whether the ship that hightailed it out of Durban harbour after a court there barred the transport of the cargo across South Africa would now try to access Zimbabwe via the Atlantic coast port of Walvis Bay in Namibia or the harbours of Namibe or Luanda in Angola.

Namibia had excellent roads that directly connected to Zimbabwe via the north-eastern Caprivi Strip.

Namibia also had close ties with both Zimbabwe and China dating back to its liberation struggle that brought about independence from South Africa in 1990.

Whereabouts unclear

The exact whereabouts of the An Yue Jiang Tuesday was not clear. A spokesperson for the Southern African Litigation Centre (SALC) claimed on Monday that the vessel was still within South African waters - a claim South Africa's Defence Ministry rejected.

The Namibian newspaper reported on Tuesday that the ship, which was carrying six containers of weapons and ammunition, had applied to take on fuel at Walvis Bay on Tuesday morning.

'We will not offload'

Meanwhile, Dawid Tjombe, president of the Namibian Transport and Allied Workers' Union (NATAU), said their members were guided by the International Transport Federation and would thus act in accordance with their directives.

"Should the ship dock at this stage, because of international and national labour involvement, we will not offload," he told dpa, hastening to add: "I am not against the politics of Zimbabwe, but we are waiting for the results to be released."

Tjombe's union was also affiliated to the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW), which in turn was affiliated to Namibia's ruling party SWAPO. - Sapa-dpa

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