Comments on: Links ~ 16 May 2008

By: Tokunbo

Tokunbo — Sat, 17 May 2008 14:20:46 +0000

the mail & guardian says the arms were offloaded in angola. the canal do moçambique says they were offloaded in congo-brazza. bright is not saying that they don’t have them, and out of nowhere tsvangirai says he’s not going back to zimbabwe.

those arms have arrived, folks.

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By: Sokwanele

Sokwanele — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:27:53 +0000

Hi all... can we take comments on this story to the post I just added because I imagine others might go there?

Thank you Tara and Tokunbo for the alerts.

To be honest, my head is spinning. My first question is are we sure? The Zimbabwean government are not known for telling the truth.

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By: Tokunbo

Tokunbo — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:15:50 +0000

Housekeeping note: it's ponta negra in portuguese, and it's in the republic of congo [congo-brazzaville]. in french [and english] it's Pointe-Noire. personally, i thought it would have gone to Pont Gentil in Gabon, but apparently it didn't need to go that far. and still, what in the world is wrong with mbeki for letting this happen? or, more importantly, for FACILITATING this whole thing?

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By: BeeSA

BeeSA — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:11:43 +0000

OMG!!! What happened??? I thought the ship story had gone too quiet and as soon as we turned our eyes they docked and offloaded. We have, on record here in these blogs, and i have the email that was sent to me by the Managing Director of Avient Ltd who DENIED any ‘rumours’ about Avient transporting arms and the email also states that Avient NEVER transports arms. A week after that email was received there was talk about all the directors of Avient being under investigation for transporting arms into Siera Leone.

I’m going to find out who the aviation investigation organisation is and forward the original email from Mr Andrew Smith, MD for Avient Ltd. LET’S SHUT THIS COMPANY DOWN!!! Damn, I’m angry now!!

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By: Tokunbo

Tokunbo — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:07:28 +0000

as i’ve said in a comment to another article, it’s really funny that at first the ZEC says “it can take up to 90 days to run this properly” and then out of nowhere says “the date is 27 june”.
i think that the sudden announcement of the date has EVERYTHING to do with the arms finally arriving in zimbabwe [article in portuguese from the canal do moçambique].
does mbeki take us for fools? jesus. does he want zanu to be running the show THAT badly that he would stoop to this level?
the article talks about how the ship was refueled as it passed the cape by the SAS drakensberg, and then how the ship was declared “lost” by lloyds of london. we know it was turned away in angola, but i suppose we should have been more vigilant with regard to pointe-noire. but brazza is not in SADC, right? [the mail and guardian, however, says that the arms were offloaded in angola. note, however, that the zimbabwean government is not denying anything else of substance to the story.]
in the sa press, tsvangirai has suddenly said that he will not be returning to zimbabwe. i’m thinking it has EVERYTHING to do with this arrival.
unbelievable.

Reply to this comment — the arms finally arriving in zimbabwe<\/a> [article in portuguese from the canal do moÃ§ambique].\r\ndoes mbeki take us for fools? jesus. does he want zanu to be running the show THAT badly that he would stoop to this level?\r\nthe article talks about how the ship was refueled as it passed the cape by the SAS drakensberg, and then how the ship was declared \"lost\" by lloyds of london. we know it was turned away in angola, but i suppose we should have been more vigilant with regard to pointe-noire. but brazza is not in SADC, right? [the mail and guardian, however, says that the arms were offloaded in angola<\/a>. note, however, that the zimbabwean government is not denying anything else of substance to the story.]\r\nin the sa press, tsvangirai has suddenly said that he will not be returning to zimbabwe. i\'m thinking it has EVERYTHING to do with this arrival.\r\nunbelievable.'); return false;">Quote from this comment

By: Tara

Tara — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:42:50 +0000

Sokwanele - If this is true…

Weapons arrive in Zim - report
http://www.24.com/news/?p=tsa&i=917273

Johannesburg - The weapons destined for Zimbabwe have arrived in Harare, The Weekender reported on Saturday.
The report said the Zimbabwean government confirmed that three million rounds of assault rifle ammunition, 3 000 mortar rounds and 1 500 rocket-propelled grenades - ordered from the Chinese government - had arrived in Harare.
The South African government denied media reports that it assisted in the delivery of the arms by fuelling the Chinese vessel, An Yue Jiang, that was transporting the arsenal.
There were fears that Robert Mugabe was planning to use force to storm back to power in the presidential run-off election to be held on June 27.
He had deployed the army, police and intelligence units across Zimbabwe to campaign for him through intimidation and coercive tactics, the report said.
The Weekender quoted a Mozambican online newspaper, which reported that the ship had been refuelled by the SAS Drakensberg off the coast of South Africa before sailing north to offload its deadly cargo.
It reported that the ship was offloaded at Ponta Negra in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, Zimbabwean government officials said it was offloaded in Angola.
The report said that President Thabo Mbeki gave “a direct instruction” to Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George to send the SAS Drakensberg to refuel the An Yue Jiang.
Presidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga dismissed the reports, saying “it seems that the season of propaganda is upon us”.
George said he had no instruction from Mbeki to dispatch the SAS Drakensberg and that the allegations had no substance.
However, the online article also said the arms were flown to Harare in an Ilyushin Il-76 belonging to Avient Aviation, a freight charter airline based in Zimbabwe but registered in the UK. This was confirmed by government officials in Harare, The Weekender said.
Zimbabwe’s Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga confirmed the weapons have been delivered.
The Angolan government’s assistance came after an appeal by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, to member states to bar the delivery of the ammunition to Zimbabwe, saying the arms could deepen the country’s election crisis.
The US and British governments had also exerted concerted pressure on the SADC and China to stop the ship from docking in the region.
The ship has been spotted off the coast of Port Elizabeth, The Weekender said.

Reply to this comment — http:\/\/www.24.com\/news\/?p=tsa&i=917273<\/a>\r\n\r\nJohannesburg - The weapons destined for Zimbabwe have arrived in Harare, The Weekender reported on Saturday.\r\nThe report said the Zimbabwean government confirmed that three million rounds of assault rifle ammunition, 3Â 000 mortar rounds and 1Â 500 rocket-propelled grenades - ordered from the Chinese government - had arrived in Harare.\r\nThe South African government denied media reports that it assisted in the delivery of the arms by fuelling the Chinese vessel, An Yue Jiang, that was transporting the arsenal.\r\nThere were fears that Robert Mugabe was planning to use force to storm back to power in the presidential run-off election to be held on June 27.\r\nHe had deployed the army, police and intelligence units across Zimbabwe to campaign for him through intimidation and coercive tactics, the report said.\r\nThe Weekender quoted a Mozambican online newspaper, which reported that the ship had been refuelled by the SAS Drakensberg off the coast of South Africa before sailing north to offload its deadly cargo.\r\nIt reported that the ship was offloaded at Ponta Negra in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, Zimbabwean government officials said it was offloaded in Angola.\r\nThe report said that President Thabo Mbeki gave \"a direct instruction\" to Deputy Defence Minister Mluleki George to send the SAS Drakensberg to refuel the An Yue Jiang.\r\nPresidential spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga dismissed the reports, saying \"it seems that the season of propaganda is upon us\".\r\nGeorge said he had no instruction from Mbeki to dispatch the SAS Drakensberg and that the allegations had no substance.\r\nHowever, the online article also said the arms were flown to Harare in an Ilyushin Il-76 belonging to Avient Aviation, a freight charter airline based in Zimbabwe but registered in the UK. This was confirmed by government officials in Harare, The Weekender said.\r\nZimbabwe\'s Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga confirmed the weapons have been delivered.\r\nThe Angolan government\'s assistance came after an appeal by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chairperson, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, to member states to bar the delivery of the ammunition to Zimbabwe, saying the arms could deepen the country\'s election crisis.\r\nThe US and British governments had also exerted concerted pressure on the SADC and China to stop the ship from docking in the region.\r\nThe ship has been spotted off the coast of Port Elizabeth, The Weekender said.'); return false;">Quote from this comment