About that ship, and about Venezuela…
Last we heard it was in Angola, and we were told that the weapons would not be unloaded there. However this news was accompanied by information that Mnangagwa was visiting so I’m afraid I took all the good news with a massive dose of sceptisim.
Today, via WorldNetDaily comes an article which propels the story into the arena of Hollywood film:
A floating arsenal of weapons and bombs dispatched by China in a rust-stained tramp freighter to the pariah state of President Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe now is being shadowed by Britain’s most powerful submarine, a nuclear Trident, says a report in Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
The article also informs us that:
Intelligence sources in London have confirmed that secret approaches have been made to Equatorial Guinea, Benin and the Ivory Coast. But so far none has allowed the ship to dock and offload its weapons.
Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman in Washington, said: “We think that under the present circumstances and the current political crisis in Zimbabwe, now is not the time for anyone to be increasing the number of weapons and armaments available to that country. We will press African nations to refuse the Yue Jiang docking rights or to face worsened relations with the United State.”
Naval intelligence sources in London have said the possibility “cannot be ruled out” that the ship could make the journey to Venezuela, whose maverick leader, President Hugo Chavez, has a good relationship with China and is an opponent of the United States.
If this last bit is true then this story is far from over: please do what you can to ensure our calls for an embargo against all trade in weapons with Zimbabwe is heard tomorrow at the UN Security Council meeting. We’ve already been copied on a few emails that some of you have sent. Please keep going and ask others to do the same.
Finally, I leave you with the Zanu-PF’s response - via the state-controlled press - to SADC’s refusal to allow the ship to offload weapons (via Daily Dispatch Online):
… in an editorial in the state-owned Herald newspaper… SADC was depicted as a tool for Britain and the United States – “the great Satanists” – carrying “the dishonour of fighting a borrowed war”.
They’re a bit annoyed, aren’t they?!
April 28th, 2008 13:49
Ah, the Great Satan.
Beelzebub has a devil set aside for youuu…
But seriously, now. Listen up, South Africans! Remember how, as warfare waxed and waned in neighbour states in the late 80’s, suddenly every tsotsi in Jo’burg had an AK 47?? While it remains a primary concern that Chinese weaponry will be used on Zimbabwean civilians, it has to be a concern for us that the ill disciplined, underpaid footsoldiers of ZANU PF will sell them to the highest bidders, and guess who those will be? Take a good look at the gun that glassy eyed crack addict is brandishing at your car window - it might just be Chinese.
Get ready for nog ‘n crime wave, SA. Or let’s rather make sure that none of these awful things actually gets offloaded anywhere in Africa.
April 28th, 2008 13:59
This is about peace and security for the people of Zimbabwe. Let’s not get pro one group or another as this just plays into all sorts of hands. We need support from the world, from Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, Asia and the West. The future government of Zimbabwe will have to negotiate with all these groups.
April 28th, 2008 14:05
All of this makes you wonder just how legal this weapons shipment is afterall, if it’s going around the world trying to find a likely buyer! Maybe the Chinese have shot themselves in the foot over this one by tacitly, however inadvertently, implicating themselves in possible illegal gun-running. Perhaps there can be a sufficient argument for the ship to be boarded and seized by an international navy.
April 28th, 2008 14:08
At last…They’ve admitted it’s War.
April 28th, 2008 14:57
A shipment of arms, such as this shipment, does not merit the expense, trouble, not to mention the negative publicity, etc. they are prepared to go through. I can not believe it is a question of excellence of service, as they have said the order was placed a year ago - so it’s been a very, very slow boat. Seriously, I’d love to know exactly what the payment entails for this kind of service. Maybe the rumours about certain mine/s being sold to them is true? If not, I can only say that never in the history of mankind has one ship tried for so long and so hard to deliver its cargo.
April 28th, 2008 15:04
No news of the creative accounting as yet?
Biti will address the UN Security Council tomorrow.
http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,168514,00.html
This is a significant shift, don’t you think?
April 28th, 2008 15:11
Hmmm.. the first part is slightly puzzling..
It’s generally imperative to British national security that no-one knows where a Trident is in case of nuclear attack. Most of a Trident crew don’t even know their Trident is at any given time!! It seems unlikely that anyone would effectively be broadcasting the location of a Trident by saying it’s following the ship.
Sure, it’s not a bad deterrent, but what are they threatening to do, nuke the ship?!? And a Trident is a mighty expensive surveillance tool..
Perhaps to be taken with a pinch of salt for now at least? It’s either a very, very serious breach of British national security or an incredibly dangerous approach to (nuclear) war (with China) which does not reflect the current diplomatic situation, bad as it is.
None of this detracts from what is great news in many respects. The days are numbered for that shipment.
And I’ve been hearing a lot of journalists asking questions about Zimbabwe and the Olympics. This is absolute folly for China - and they know it.
April 28th, 2008 15:14
Thank you sokwanele for informing us about what is happening in Zimbabwe.
I believe it is time for Mugabe to leave power for that nation to be peaceful.
Weaponry from China is something to fight as AFRICANS. We don’t need blood in this continent.
April 28th, 2008 15:49
I had a strong suspicion:
the west countries kept so tight an eye on those weapons, their basic aim is to deface China and eventually, they can sell the weapons theirselves.
but, obviously, they grasp a seeming right cause and act timely.
if there is no profit, no one will wake up earlier.
April 28th, 2008 15:55
It sounds as though the British and the Americans are trying to claim credit for something that Africans have done for themselves.
April 28th, 2008 15:57
The first part is implausible to me too CC. Hollywood drama. The Chavez part .. maybe. But I’m sure at some point the cost of this shipment travelling around the world and the hassle of getting them from A to Zim would surely mean they’ll just write the cost off and order a new batch…..?
Hope
April 28th, 2008 16:18
It is clear that Mugabe is desperate for arms, as evidenced by the fact that he is buying from China as opposed to his old friends in North Korea.
The USA recently quietly bought off the DPRK in terms of African arms sales, it gave Ethiopia $100 million to spend on North Korean weapons and “training” personnel for use in it’s current war. No doubt the deal was that the USA would look the other way while it’s allies bought arms from the DPRK in exchange for the DPRK not selling to US enemies. It does not matter to Kim who pays him as long as long as he gets paid.
In a way this is a good sign for the people of Zimbabwe, if the regime is so rotten that even someone like Kim Jong Il will not sell you weapons then your time is probably running out.
April 28th, 2008 16:22
Good points. I am also curious to see if Angola will stand up and say here is the proof the arms left their shores.
Maybe Nose Week knows who loses out if the weapons are returned. The marginal cost of shipping them wouldn’t be that much I think. And it seems they already have the ivory in payment.
The Chinese are proud though. Chinese students abroad are demonstrating about the treatment of the flame - now they have the hang of it! I don’t think we really feature in their consciousness. It is also true the west is smacking China across the face with a wet fish.
We must be clear. We want to trade with China. We are more than happy to balance the power of the west. The timing of the delivery was a mistake for them. It was oddly a blessing for Africa - it has united us.
We only have three issues - to get rid of the shipment, to make sure there is no more (consistently with the China Code of Conduct) from them or anyone else, and to move on. We like to trade! But not guns please!
April 28th, 2008 16:43
You don’t think Bruno’s comment #207 on “Action: Stop the An Yue Jiang from delivering Chinese weapons to Zimbabwe” mentioning that the arms may have been offloaded in Angola, might be plausible? Anyone had any further news on that one?
If it is a possibility that the weapons have been offloaded or part of the order offloaded then the containers destination should be monitored.
April 28th, 2008 16:51
We are playing grown-up games now. We must learn to exploit moves in the international arena.
We will know that we are really ‘grown up’ when everyone is complaining about us!!
I am so glad Tendai Biti will be at the UN in New York tomorrow. I feel, at long last, the mantle of leadership is moving from one generation to another (having skipped one or two!).
Just hope he keeps it simple! Just because it is the UN doesn’t mean people can follow a thesis . . Words of one syllable. We won. We have the figures. Please support us by a, b, c. We would like this time frame and humanitarian support of x, y, z.
This is where we are. It is amazing. It is not the end but this is significantly forward. I take my hats off to their tenacity and to the people on the ground.
April 28th, 2008 19:21
How is it that the ship still has fuel? Who re-fueled it?
If it docks in Luanda then I think Malcolm (??) had it right - future headline “The containers were unloaded due to a clerical error - we are investigating their whereabouts” will become a reality for sure.
April 28th, 2008 20:41
Why is it that there are no photographs of the ship coming out of Luanda? Even if there are no foreign reporters on hand, the union contacts there have to have one or two cameras available…
I want to see some sign that someone in Angola is being an on-the-spot watchdog. The international union umbrella groups should be making sure this happens. So, of course, should the media.
April 28th, 2008 21:07
Lets just for one moment believe that the story about the trident is true,
although it’s not that important if it’s not.
The fact is the threat to Mugabe and his cronies is very real indeed.
The west just now are looking very hard for a JUST war to get into.
Nothing can be more just than the downfall of Mugabe and the freeing of the Zimbabwean
people.
The situation is an ideal one for PM Gorden Brown to raise his flagging ratings.
In modern wars they tend to use cruise missiles to hit the leaders palaces and mansions first.
Now it just so happens that I’m in the market to buy a few second hand Chinese dark blue,
glazed roof tiles.
April 28th, 2008 21:42
Right now, I’m just so happy with every person,the unions, orginisations or countries which condemned the shipment of arms. It is infinitely preferable to hearing “What crisis?”. The irony is that had it not been for that ship, there may not have been so much international attention on the situation in Zimbabwe. Support came from all corners of the Globe. What a story to tell our grandchildren one day.
April 29th, 2008 12:13
See new posting on this blog about new attempt by Mugabe to get the arms shipment with Malawi involvement.
May 2nd, 2008 01:37
The venezuela bit seems to me to be saying that if the Chinese can’t sell the arms off to some African country, they may sell them to Venezuela. It is not saying that they will send them to Venezuela in order to send them to Zim.
May 17th, 2008 15:24
We’ve just added a post to our blog titled Weapons delivered via the An Yue Jiang have allegedly arrived in Harare
I’m going to close comments on this post and ask you to take the discussion to the latest entry on the story.
Hope