Weapons delivered via the An Yue Jiang have allegedly arrived in Harare
We’ve been alerted to two reports via our comments today:
The first came from Tokunbo, alerting us to an article published yesterday in the Mozambican press. It’s in Portuguese - can anyone do us a rough translation of the key facts?
The second alert via Tara, to this article published today. The link to the article is here, the full text below:
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.
May 17th, 2008 15:30
Bug In Blog
SOKWANELE?????????
I posted a link about this story and 3 others (B4 11am) but they havent appeared on your blog. I am very sure that they were non violent comments as i have been posting several other letters for some months now. Have you now voluntarily devised a segregatory measure for eliminating some of our posts for unjust and undisclosed reasons or we should just assume its a bug????
May 17th, 2008 15:36
I didn’t see the comments 4th Chimurenga otherwise absolutely would have published them. Really very sorry about that! There must be a glitch somewhere but I’m not sure its the blog because all the other comments were there, including the less desirable ones.
May 17th, 2008 15:48
sorry, i was in a rush. here is a rough translation (my nanny would be proud of me for doing this off the top of my head):
the article says: the SAS drakensberg, ship of the south african navy, restocked the chinese cargo ship an yue jiang with petrol as the ship rounded the cape of good hope after having been rejected at the port of durban with 77 tonnes of various war materiel destined for the regime of robert mugabe. the orders to resupply the an yue jiang, also known as the ’ship of shame’, came from thabo mbeki, the south african president and were directly transmitted to the vice-minister of defence, george mluleki.
the drakensberg’s main mission is to provide help and assistance to ships of the south african navy on the high seas. made in the south african naval shipyard during the apartheid era, the drakensberg has the capacity to transport 5,500 tonnes of diesel. refueling of other ships by the drakensberg has taken place at an average of 40 tonnes an hour. the maximum capacity of the an yue jiang is of 1,155 tons of fuel.
even though the drakensberg refueled the chinese ship, the electronic systems of the south african navy maintained that the an yue jiang was outside of both its radar and also undetectable by satellite, facts which led the Maritime Information Union of the insurance company Lloyds to declare the cargo as “lost”.
the refueling by the south african ship enabled the an yue jiang to continue in the direction of pointe-noire in the republic of congo [congo-brazzaville] where it proceeded to unload 77 tons of war materiel destined to reinforce the capacity of the oppressive regime of Harare. From Pointe-Noire, the weapons were transported in an Ilyushin Il-76 belonging to the zimbabwean airline company Avient, which is officially registered in [address in UK]. This permitted the vice-minister of information of the Harare regime, Bright Matonga, to announce that the arms sent by China have arrived into the hands of the ZANU-PF led government.
the chinese authorities fooled the international community, officially saying that the ’ship of shame’ had received orders to return to china. in reality, the government of the peoplel’s republic of china was in collaboration with the south african goverment, the whole time ensuring that the arms arrived in the hands of the harare regime and also through certain diplomatic channels
May 17th, 2008 16:32
the mail & guardian says the arms were offloaded in angola. the canal do moçambique says they were offloaded in congo-brazza. bright does not deny their arrival, and out of nowhere tsvangirai says he’s not going back to zimbabwe.
those arms have arrived, folks.
May 17th, 2008 16:32
There is a bug, somewhere… I have also posted comments re links etc that wouldn’t go through. Once with a specific post which seemed to give problems after 2 comments was posted and I was sure that other people would have left comments on the topic as well.
Link below says it all in the heading. Mostly the same as the links provided above. So it’s just for your info. Seeing that it was broadcasted on SABC.
I will not comment on this just yet as you will definitely not be able to publish my thoughts on the matter!
South Africa denies aiding Chinese arms ship
http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,169722,00.html
May 17th, 2008 16:40
i’m having the feeling that they’re going to say something like “there is no such place in the drc” to be able to wiggle out of it.
and they will be right of course, as pointe-noire is in the republic of congo. kabila gets the blame, sassou-nguesso gets off, dos santos gets off, and we have a nice little “incident” in zim.
i’m completely convinced that the announcement of the date of the elections has EVERYTHING to do with the arrival of the arms.
May 17th, 2008 17:02
That is such a dirty game. For what we need democratic rules, laws or elections when all lies in the hand of some players who always do what they want….
By the way I had also problems to post something in the last two days and it wasn’t working
May 17th, 2008 17:19
(About five of my posts, all of them with links, have disappeared at the moderation stage. Hehe no I didn’t think that someone was censoring them, sorry should have raised it sooner.)
This story seems pretty plausible, but here are a couple of positive thoughts just in case.
Bright Matonga already said 10 days ago that ‘the weapons are already in Zimbabwe anyway’. Given the evidence today, logically, the truth of the latter statement precludes the truth of the former, but we don’t need logic to know that Bright Matonga’s ‘confirmations’ are worth squat.
At the end of the day, it is in the old man’s strategic interest to make zimbabweans and others believe that the weapons are already in zim.
I do agree that essentially it seems plausible.
Just remember folk, you made life one hell of a lot more difficult for quite a lot of people for a long time. You gave them some grey hairs. You cost them money. You made them feel panicked and insecure. You cost quite a few countries vital PR points at an important time.
This was one hell of a stink and the ’ship of shame’ will forever be an example of when ordinary people rallied together, to the detriment of brutal regimes and their supporters. All of these are an important part of the civic struggle for freedom.
Now what shall we do?
May 17th, 2008 18:02
Problems with comments
Thanks for letting us know about the posting problem.
I think that what may have happened is you may have had too many links in your comments and they were treated as ’spam’ by our system.
We’ll add a note above to advise no more than 6 links per comment (we’ve increased it slightly to test).
Unfortunately, we have to use the spam feature because we are utterly bombarded with offers for drugs, women, and software all the time.
I am sorry about the problems that caused, please keep us posted if you still have hassles.
Hope
May 17th, 2008 18:23
I have sent the following email to the following newspapers: (I have removed my personal email adress from this copy)
EMAIL:
PLEASE investigate this story :
Zimbabwe ARMS DELIVERY and Avient Airlines Ltd
http://www.24.com/news/?p=tsa&i=917273
Weapons arrive in Zim - report 2008-5-17 11:30
Johannesburg - The weapons destined for Zimbabwe have arrived in Harare, The Weekender reported on Saturday.
…] 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.
…] 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.
………………………
My email to Mr Andrew Smith - MD Avient Ltd :
From: Belinda [mailto:################]
Sent: 26 April 2008 12:44
To: info@avient.aero
Subject: Zimbabwe arms shipment transportation
Is this statement true ?????? “Yesterday a press report linked a UK cargo company, Avient Limited, to a possible “plan B” for transporting the weapons” http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/910#comments
Is Avient REALLY going to assist in shipping these arms to Zimbabwe? If so, I doubt Avient will be in business for much longer. If it’s NOT TRUE please issue a statement to this effect urgently and submit it to the above-mentioned activists and website administrators. Avient Limited is in a bad position with a statement such as this.
…………………………………
reply email received from Mr Andrew Smith - MD Avient Ltd :
—– Original Message —–
From: Andrew Smith
To: #########################
Cc: info@avient.aero
Sent: Saturday, April 26, 2008 5:44 PM
Subject: FW: Zimbabwe arms shipment transportation
The suggestion that we are linked to such a scheme is highly inaccurate. The article actually reads
Military officials have also discussed the possibility of hiring a private operator, Avient Aviation, a British cargo charter airline that has previously flown into Zimbabwe. However, this is unlikely, a source said.
There has been no contact with any member of this company to request any form of assistance to move the suggested cargo. Avient has a clear international policy that we do not carry any arms and ammunition for anyone. Please advise who the so termed administrators/activists are with their addressees and email addresses so that the matter can be cleared immediately. Many people their families and dependants rely on Avient for their livelihood and many people throughout the continent of Africa are serviced by us carrying commercial cargo on a daily basis.
Andrew R H Smith
Managing Director
AVIENT LIMITED
The Barn Cottage,
Brigmerston, Salisbury, Wiltshire SP4 8HX
UNITED KINGDOM.
Tel: 00 44 (0) 1980 676010
Fax:00 44(0) 1980 654954
Sita : HDQOOXH
http://www.avient.aero
……………………..
Approximately one week after receiving this email from Mr Smith I read an article stating that ALL the Directors of Avient Air are currently UNDER INVESTIGATION with an international aviation organisation for transporting arms illegally into Sierra Leone.
Mr Smith has DENIED involvement YET we have contradicting reports.
Their involvement with Robert Mugabe is nothing short of MURDEROUS and they too will have the blood of INNOCENT civilians on their hands!!!! Avient should be SHUT DOWN !!!
Please do not hesitate to contact me for forwards of the emails between Mr Smith and myself, with full headers.
Regards
aka BeeSA
__________________________________________
This has been sent to :
Sky News
Sky News Radio
Sky News Online
Mail & Guardian UK
New York Times
San Fancisco Chronicles
International Herald Tribune
Los Angeles Times
Chicago Tribune
Washington Post Print
Washington Post Online
Weekend Argus
I’m focussing on more UK and South African newspapers now and will keep going.
May 17th, 2008 18:32
Hi Sokwanele
I think we should continue to lobby hard for the protection of a civilian peace keeping force. I would suggest especially for a joint mission between either SADC/AU and EU/UN. This news is very distressing in addition to the atrocities already being committed by this regime.
Nana
May 17th, 2008 18:33
I have had problems since I signed ipetition and the helpsavesimbabwe one not sure if it is a coincidence or what (anyone know how to check if your carrying a virus or not or do we just wait for the boffins to send us an update?) but have all viruses checkers etc up to date so can’t work out what is happeneing I have posted a few things in the last few days with only one link….have heard of 3 peoples whose computers have crashed and mine lost its way with the server and had to redirect it all…
I wonder if you have read this
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12825:stand-up-&catid=31:top%20zimbabwe%20stories&Itemid=66
I think it is the coolest idea…
May 17th, 2008 18:35
Just to add insult to injury, rumour has it that the weapons were paid for with ivory from our beautiful elephants. Does anybody know if this is the truth?
May 17th, 2008 18:49
I know that exposing Avient Air like this won’t solve the problems now facing Zimbabwe but hopefully this will bring the crisis back into global view. I have sent the email to these news papers as well :
Guardian UK
Observer UK
Sunday Times UK
The Herald UK
The Sun UK
The Mirror UK
The Scotsman
Belfast Telegraph
May 17th, 2008 19:40
Hope…Avient contacted and they deny any involvement..Have passed e-mail responses to you.
May 17th, 2008 23:08
and…who is printing the money for zimbabwe? how are they paid and where does foreign currency come from. All the useless paper money printed will be used to dish out to party thugs in the run-up to the run-off! what are the ethics of doing business with such a rogue regime?
May 17th, 2008 23:51
Avient Aviation and Mugabe go way back to the DRC. The owner is linked to war crimes there. Lots of info re that on the internet. Eg.
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=15367
Controversial airline seeks licence to operate in Kenya
‘According to the Sunday Times of London, officials of the airline are likely to be charged in Britain following complaints of their activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict which ended in 2003 with three million people dead. The newspaper said in a September 10 story that although Avient’s Aviation role was supposed to be logistical, it turned out that the firm was known to participate in bombing raids.’
What interests me is that the “rumour” from Mozambique implies knowledge that Mugabe and Avient have been “partners” in the DRC. Somehow that seems to be more than a lucky guess.
There was also 2 conflicting press statements when the ship left the Luanda harbour - one said it was going to Point Noire and the other said it was going south. My guess would be that there could have been a transfer at sea near Luanda. The ship could not make it to Point-Noire and back without drawing attention to itself.
May 18th, 2008 11:27
Point of correction colleagues,
The port in discussion could be Pointe Noir (Black Point, or Ponte Negra in Portuguese I suppose) in Congo-Brazaville. The ports in Congo DR are Matadi and Boma to the west most point of DRC.
Again what do you expect from Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of Congo B? Nothing much!
May 18th, 2008 12:38
What does the American ambassador to Zimbabwe have to say about the Chinese ship off-loading its cargo of ammunition? What does the British ambassador have to say? When the controversy first broke, space satellites were said to be fixed on the ship as it sailed from South Africa and Mozambique…where are the photos?
To the growing list of media that might be interested in the rumors about the Chinese ship off-loading arms for Zimbabwe, The Wall Street Journal enjoys a very high reputation; and Fox News is owned by the company which owns cable networks in China.
How about media in Taiwan and Japan? What about the Olympic Committee (the Chinese Olympics begins in August)? How about Reporters Without Borders? Human Rights Watch? Amnesty International?
And how about the Secretary General of the United Nations? But the American and British ambassadors might be the best place to start asking…where are the satellite photos tracking this Chinese ship?
May 18th, 2008 19:58
WEAPONS A REALITY
It has become a reality that the weapons are in Zimbabwe and whatever protests we might make will never reverse that scenario but will only raise unnecessary noise. Mugabe is known for dismissing all such noise from outside Zim as baseless. Mbeki has also adopted the stance.Owing to his controversial allegiance to Mugabe, Mbeki has been suspected that he is somehow related to Mugabe or Grace. He jokingly denied the allegations in Durban today. The best way now is to make sure SADC send the observers mainly in the rural areas. Mugabe wont allow any EU/UN observers so lets deal with what we have.
May 18th, 2008 23:09
Hi,
I posted this a couple of days ago - found it on the SWradio site, and I think it’s a fantastic idea. Hit the SA govt where it hurts.
Send protest to FIFA
Subject: Zimbabwe Elections - Mbeki’s Own Goal
We all know that major sporting events can have a big impact on politicians as the recent Olympic torch relay has demonstrated only too well. Rumour has it that FIFA are contemplating moving the World Cup to Australia if the Zimbabwe situation is not resolved soon.
Let’s use this as leverage to expedite a solution to the Zimbabwe situation and show Mbeki what a real crisis is….send this to everyone you know, and ask them to simply go on to the web page and email FIFA asking them to make plans to move the 2010 world cup from South Africa to somewhere else due to the political impasse and instability in Zimbabwe.
If enough people email them, they will have to take some sort of action. If even a whisper of the possibility of an alternate World Cup venue reaches the ears of the South African government, I suspect Mbeki won’t be doing quite so much hand-holding with Mugabe. It will affect the whole region financially and Mbeki would have scored a major own goal.
Tell FIFA you won’t go and see the games or watch them on TV/the web when Zimbabweans are dying next door.
http://www.fifa.com/contact/form.html
May 18th, 2008 23:24
What Mugabe is doing to your country is truly deplorable, and I hope that every person of conscience the world over will come to the aid of our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe.
After Mogadishu, Kabul and Baghdad, though, I don’t know how willing the leadership of the U.S.A. will be to help. Our own elections are veiling dire situations like yours, and Mr. Bush has proven unwilling to give anything more than lip service. What can individual U.S. citizens do to help you? We ARE watching what’s happening there, and we DO care very deeply for your future. Since it is unlikely that our political leaders will do anything significant, what can we do?
Keep heart and stay safe. Hope.
May 19th, 2008 00:57
News from arms control watching orgs also confirms that arms were offloaded and are now in Zim.
If the press reports are to be believed about Avient’s Ilyshin being used: they are in breach of E.U. and U.K. arms embargo currently in place against Zimbabwe.
See http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/910
In particular there is contact info for the UK’s department of trade, embargo desk. We can also get in touch with Corner House and Campaign Against the Arms trade, who’ve successfully been involved w/bringing to court a legal challenge to the Government’s halting the inquiry into BaE systems’ bribery scandal.
They may be interested
Corner House:
Telephone: 0845 330 7928 (UK only, local rate)
Telephone: +44 (0)1258 473795 (International)
FAX: +44 (0)1258 473748
Email: enquiries@thecornerhouse.org.uk
Web: http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk
CAAT:
Tel: +44-(0)20 7281 0297
Fax: +44-(0)20 7281 4369
General Enquiries: For general enquiries, including requests for campaign packs (we will need your postal address for this) email enquiries@caat.org.uk.
Press Office: Contact Symon Hill (email press@caat.org.uk or call +44 (0) 7990 673 232)
UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Zimbabwe Desk (+44 (0)20 7008 2902)
On speaking to them speculatively, without naming any company name, about this:
“…all EU companies wanting to transfer arms to Zim — including brokering where no arms pass through the EU — must be applied for IN ADVANCE of the shipment. She said that that gov’t would have to investigate if this law were violated.”
I’m sorry I’ve not been active…I started a very intensive course this last week that doesn’t permit free time. I’m hoping folks here (and others) will be able to follow up.
with sadness and yet hope,
peace to all.
May 19th, 2008 01:03
@ American brother
Its nice to know the concern exists…I know we have never communicated before… I have a tarnished reputation here, but would speak to you at greater length to see if the kind of help you wish to provide can assist a project I seek to set up for the country. If you dont mind kindly contact
r.evolution@hotmail.co.uk
May 19th, 2008 10:15
Avient may be based in Britain, but most or all of their aircraft are registered in Zimbabwe. Does this mean that they do not contravene the embargo’s?
There are rumours of a partnership with highly placed official/s in Zimbabwe.
May 19th, 2008 11:35
Hi Sokwanele
I am wondering if anyone has seen these horrors taking place in South Africa.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7407914.stm
Nana
May 19th, 2008 11:55
I wonder if this assasination plot/rumour is a deliberate ploy to keep Morgan outside of Zimbabwe.
Could be a rumour that Zanu PF has started to raise alarm in the MDC and keep the MDC leaderless going into the elections. If Morgan is not in the country and when Zanu PF propaganda machine kicks in a lot of time will be lost getting leadership advice from outside the country.
Morgan and MDC need to be smart and take action and remain focussed on their own agenda and not get drawn into Zanu PF stoushes.
The electioneering has not begun it is about to heat up.
May 19th, 2008 13:30
Like American Brother, I too would like to know what I can do to help. I’m an American living in Cape Town who is very willing to travel up to Zimbabwe if need be. I can send you my resume too if you’d like.
As to the subject at hand, the recent attacks in Alex may sadly be an impetus for change in South AFrica’s handling of Zim. While I think emailing FIFA is a great idea, I would also suggest emailing Jacob Zuma’s people. I’m not a fan of Zuma, but he’s one of the few SA politicians who has been on the right side of the Zim issue and with this new problem of Alex, he could once again propel himself into the public eye by pointing out that the influx of immigrants has a lot to do with instability in Zim. ie stop the instability in Zim, you curb the influx of refugees.
Anyway, I’ll raise teh issues on my blog and I’ll try to freelance some articles about the subject as well as sending emails to anyoen I can think off (including Senators. Barrack Obama and John McCain). If there is anything else I can do let me, and us, know.
May 19th, 2008 15:19
Avient does NOT carry any arms or ammunition and the aircraft referenced in these articles has not been in Harare since February the 10th. This can be easily verified through the CAAZ Director of Flight Safety & Standards as well as with Air Trafic Control. It is a mystery to me why people do not check logical sources before making wild accusations.
May 19th, 2008 17:26
@First Hand Knowledge
Hello Mr Andrew Smith..Your protestations of innocence are at odds with your reputation among professional pilots. Let me list the facts
The plane which delivered the arms is owned by the Zimbabwe Government. Your employees piloted and serviced that plane. It is in your livery. You have an extensive and embracing agreement with the regime which allows you to dominate the Zimbabwe Air Freight services.
I could go on and list the act committed in DRC and Sierra Leone but i would be straying off subject.
You are putting profits before people!!!
May 19th, 2008 17:47
@ Trey / American brother
The question is how to you turn pawns into queens and gain power on the political chess board.
May 19th, 2008 19:57
Hello “First Hand Knowledge”
I would love a response from you.Are you asleep in Germany cuddling your lap-top. The RGM regime will fall. You will be implicated in some of it’s excesses. Talk to us.!!
The only way you have of preserving your company is to refuse to become implicated in the movement of arms and personnel to suppress the democratic will of the people.
PS. you don’t list branches in Vatry or Zimbabwe in your company submissions to company House. WHY??
May 19th, 2008 20:59
Post Script
sorry, ” First hand Knowledge” I forgot Belarus and Belgium
May 20th, 2008 09:54
First Hand Knowledge,
It is interesting that you have not responded to Fish Eagle’s statement that your aircraft IL-76 registration number Z-WTV actualy and physicaly belongs to the Zimbabwe Air Force.
It is so that your new IL-76 aircraft EW-263TH is registered in Belarus, but come clean on your relationship and partnership with the Zimbabwe Air Force, emenating from your days of providing them aircraft, crews, and maintenance for their aircraft, and converting Antonov-12 aircraft to rudimentary bombers that your crews flew and bombed the Goma and Kisangani area’s in the DRC with.
Please elucidate and explain how you manage your relationship with the Zimbabwe regime, how they allow a “much hated” British national to own and operate an aviation business in Zimbabwe, and what price you pay for this obvious convenience, and the role that Mr Lewis Kling plays in this process.
You can be sure that when the RGM regime comes to a fall your convenient collaboration and relationship with the regime will be exposed, that is the nature of these processes, and your business and registration of convenience will summiraly be terminated. Better still, that you will will be held accountable and responsible for your collusion with this evil regime!
If your company’s website so honourably professes that you dont fly weapons and ammunition, why do you neglect to mention that you did in the past, or at least qualify your observation “that you no longer do so”!
Your chickens are coming home to roost and soon your role in destabilising Africa and the suffering that you have caused innocent people through your actions WILL be exposed.
May 20th, 2008 18:29
@ American Brother
I see Hillary Clinton has made a statement about the Zimbabwean situation. It would be good to get this as an issue for Obama too.
May 20th, 2008 23:28
Hi, I’ve been writing about this here and here, and include information about a conversation I had with Samantha Smith, Andrew Smith’s wife, I assume. On the second link I show a translation of the relevant part of a new piece from today’s Mozambiquean source - they stand by their claim that Avient carried the arms.
May 21st, 2008 11:05
If the weapons have reached Zimbabwe then perhaps it’s time to challenge China on: 1) its statement that the arms ship had been recalled to China and 2) on China’s “non-interference” policy.
I wonder if the xenophobic attacks on Zimbabweans in South Africa was not a smokescreen created to divert the world’s attention away from what’s happening in Zimbabwe - and the Chinese arms issue?
Time to bombard FIFA - and the Olympics Committee…?
May 21st, 2008 16:58
Remember that in the beginning there was a rumour that a second shipment of arms would be airlifted to Zimbabwe? That may be the reason for the confusion, maybe there was a second shipment.
Anyway, thought you’d like to know that China now denies that the ‘first’ shipment was offloaded. They must still be under pressure if they are prepared to make a statement.
China denies weapons shipped to Zimbabwe
http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN148156.html
May 21st, 2008 22:11
While still searching for the facts, please do not believe that the alleged role players involved ie. South Africa, Angola and China will own up and admit that the weapons were offloaded in Luanda and flown to Zimbabwe.
Fot those unfamiliar with Angola, there is just no way that a trade union will put pressure on the MPLA and refuse instructions to offload a ship!
In Angola where the regime of Dos Santos reigns supreme NOBODY will be any wiser as to whether the ship was offloaded or not.
The continued silence of the US and British administrations about their observations of the matter - is deafening!
May 21st, 2008 23:02
Patrick is right.
Some good news: Avient is being looked at by the British police, who have been reading my posts about this. I’m going to try to get a formal statement from their press office tomorrow.
May 23rd, 2008 13:09
We have just published a statement by the ITF on the weapons shipment, refuting Matonga’s claims of where they were offloaded. It was released on the 20th, so we’re a little late in bringing it to you! See the post here. I’m closing comments on this thread so any discussion is consolidated in the new post.