Johannesburg - China, the country Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe calls his 'all-weather friend,' was back in the spotlight Thursday over its no-strings-attached ties with autocratic African leaders.
The Chinese ship, An Yue Jiang, lies at anchor off the port of Durban, South Africa, 17 April 2008. A huge shipment of arms destined for Zimbabwe is on board as political pressure mounts on South Africa not to allow the road transportation of the arms to Zimbabwe across South Africa. EPA/STR
A Chinese ship anchored outside Durban port in South Africa earlier this week with a consignment of arms for Zimbabwe, where a bloody crackdown on the opposition is in full swing.
An investigative magazine, Noseweek, raised the alert Wednesday, saying the An Yue Yiang was waiting for permission to offload 70 tonnes of weapons for transport by road to Zimbabwe.
The shipment comprised millions of rounds of ammunition for AK-47 assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, grenade launchers, and mortar bombs and tubes, Noseweek editor Martin Welz, who saw the shipping manifest, said.
Customs officials confirmed that the ship was carrying arms. The ship's captain confirmed to SAPA news agency he had cargo for Zimbabwe.
According to Welz, the shipment was paid for in January, two months before Zimbabwe's disputed elections.
But the timing of the delivery, coming amid mounting reports of 'revenge' attacks by Zanu-PF supporters on supporters of the rival Movement for Democratic Change, has raised fears the weapons, even if part of a routine order, could be used against civilians.
Before the election Mugabe's security force chiefs warned they would not salute any 'puppet' leader - referring to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, whom Mugabe accuses of being a stooge of Britain and the United States.
Tsvangirai claims to have ended Mugabe's nearly-three-decade rule in the March 29 vote. Mugabe's party says neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai won outright and that a runoff is needed. The state-controlled election commission is refusing to release the results pending a recount at the weekend demanded by Zanu-PF.
In the meantime youth militia loyal to the 84-year-old leader have gone on the rampage beating up scores of people believed to be MDC supporters and killing two, according to the MDC.
As fears grow of a bloody denouement to the Zimbabwean standoff the opposition Democratic Alliance urged President Thabo Mbeki's government not to let the weapons cross South African soil.
But a government spokesman responded that South Africa could not stop the shipment because it did 'not interfere in a trade deal between two countries.'
While the focus in South Africa was on Pretoria's role the incident shone a light, once again, on China's cosiness with controversial African governments.
Since the European Union slapped Zimbabwe with an arms embargo and targeted sanctions in 2002 Mugabe has ordered his countrymen to learn Mandarin and 'look East.'
China was Zimbabwe's biggest foreign investor in 2007, ploughing 7.8 billion dollars into the paralytic economy at a time when most other countries were giving it a wide berth.
Zimbabwe gets its fighter jets, armoured vehicles and military uniforms from China, which built Mugabe's palatial pagoda-style home and the national sports stadium in Harare.
'Whether in the past, at present or in the future, the Chinese people will be an equal, sincere and reliable friend (to Zimbabwe),' deputy Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Ma Deyun vowed in January.
Ben Coetzee, researcher on arms management at the Institute of Security Studies in Pretoria, said the arms waiting in Durban, which he described as a 'relatively small consignment,' were probably loaded after the elections during the week of April 1.
'My feeling when I first heard was that this was a resupply that had been planned for a long time,' he said. 'The timing is extremely bad but it's not necessarily anything out of the ordinary.'
While the shipment raised 'moral' questions for South Africa there was nothing in the law to prohibit it, he said.
For MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe's spending on arms, coming when most people in Zimbabwe are struggling to feed themselves, showed 'the warped nature of this (Mugabe's) regime.'
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