Zim arms ship departure 'a blessing'
19/04/2008 14:27  - (SA)  

Zim arms ship flees Durban Bishop stops Zim armament 'Don't use cops as scab labour' Mugabe thanks SA Mugabe: UK will never steal Zim Leopards face anguish, ecstasy Union refuses to touch Zim arms

Durban - The hasty departure of a Chinese ship carrying arms destined for Zimbabwe has saved the South African government from further international embarrassment, says civil rights initiative AfriForum.

If the weapons had been transported across South Africa, the government would have contravened the international Wassenaar Agreement, said AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel.

The agreement stipulated that arms might not be transported to areas where they would be used to repress people or to commit human rights violations.

He said: "The fact that South Africa has been saved from further embarrassment is not due to government's actions, but rather in spite thereof.

"The... government had already approved a permit on Monday for the transport of the arms consignment across South African territory and this process would probably have gone ahead if the court had not prevented it."

Tsvangirai 'proclaims' himself the victor

The ship lifted anchor and sailed from Durban on Friday, less than an hour after the city's high court ordered that its cargo could not be transported across South Africa to Zimbabwe.

The ship and its cargo caused an uproar across South African political parties, labour unions and non-governmental organisations, which believed the weapons would be used by Zimbabwe's army to suppress supporters of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Zimbabwe held its elections three weeks ago and the results of the presidential poll had still not been released. However, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had already proclaimed himself the victor over Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

Kriel said the government's approval for the weapons to be transported across South Africa had resulted in it "swapping its ineffective policy of silent diplomacy for an even more disastrous policy of collusion with the state violence and human rights violations committed by the Zimbabwean government against its own citizens".

AfriForum had planned to stage a protest against the ship and its cargo, but cancelled it after the ship left the harbour.

 

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