Court Bars Unloading of Chinese Cargo

The Chinese ship carrying a consignment of 77 tonnes of weaponry for Zimbabwe left South African waters yesterday after a court blocked the onward overland shipment of the cargo.

South African dockers had refused to unload the arsenal of small arms, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.

But the Durban high court in any case ruled that the shipment could not be dispatched north across the border into Zimbabwe.

Several hours later, the An Yue Jiang weighed anchor and left Durban harbor, reportedly headed for Mozambique.

The court ruling followed an application brought with the support of the South African Litigation Center under legislation prohibiting the supply of arms to "governments that systematically violate, or oppress ... human rights and fundamental freedoms".

The director of the center, Nicole Fritz, said: "It is hard to imagine clearer circumstances in which South African authorities were obliged to refuse to grant any conveyance permit."

Helen Zille, the leader of South Africa's opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, warned that the shipment could result in carnage of "genocidal proportions".

Pointing out that a consignment of Chinese machetes had prefaced the genocide in Rwanda, she said: "The mind boggles when one considers the damage that could be done with the consignment of arms sitting in Durban harbor."

The Congress of South African Trade Unions said the vessel "must return to China with the arms on board, as South Africa cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at a time where there is a political dispute and a volatile situation".