Ship of shame sails for AngolaApril 24, 2008
Staff Reporter
The NamibianCALLS for an international arms embargo against Zimbabwe are gaining momentum amidst reports that the Chinese ship carrying weapons destined for Zimbabwe is stranded in international waters off the Namibian coast.
By late yesterday, indications were that the ship was still heading for Angola, but at a very slow pace to conserve fuel.
Reliable sources, who were also trying to track the progress of the vessel, suspect the vessel is on its way to the harbour town of Lobito but travelling slowly to save fuel and bypass Walvis Bay.
However, reports emanating from Angola indicated that the port authorities there have already rejected the An Yue Jiang from docking there.
China said on Tuesday already that the 'ship of shame' might return if it was not allowed to unload the cargo.
Cape Town Radio, the South African maritime radio counterpart of Walvis Bay Radio, told The Namibian that they had no communication with the vessel.
The same statement was echoed by the South Africa Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRRC), which said it had received no SOS signals.
The South African Navy's public relations division also remained mum on the whereabouts of the ship.
Last night Lutheran Bishop Zephania Kameeta said he supported the Legal Assistance Centre's efforts to stop the shipment of weapons to Zimbabwe.
"Allowing weapons to reach Zimbabwe in this highly volatile and tense situation amounts to becoming accomplices in the injustice and violence committed.
Hence, if we just stand by without acting in this situation, we are committing sin," he said.
He said the Zimbabwean crisis was an extraordinary situation and needed prayer and concrete action.
"I therefore hereby call upon all fellow compatriots, the Christian Council and people in the region to do everything in our power to stop the weapons from reaching the government in Zimbabwe," he said.
Kameeta's statement was supported by the General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, Dr Ishmael Noko, Bishop Dr Tomas Shivute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) and Bishop Erich Hertel of the German Lutheran Church in Namibia.
In South Africa, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba made an appeal for an arms embargo to the UN Security Council after the ship left Durban before it could be served with a court order that the weapons could not be transported through South Africa to landlocked Zimbabwe.
The court action in South Africa was led by two civil society groups, the Southern African Litigation Centre and the International Action Network on Small Arms.
"On the basis that a heavily armed Zimbabwe would threaten peace, security and stability in southern Africa, we call upon the Security Council of the United Nations to impose an arms embargo on its government.
We appeal to the South African Government to support such an embargo," Makgoba said yesterday, according to a statement posted on the church's web site.
Echoing the clergyman's call, Amnesty International said that all shipments of small arms, light weapons and ammunition ordered from China by the Zimbabwe government must be halted, as there as a real risk that it might lead to increased human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
"The international community must not supply small arms to Zimbabwe until state-sponsored violence has ceased and the rule of law is re-established," the rights group said.
Amnesty International also welcomed the mobilisation of civil society in South Africa and other southern African countries to stop the delivery of arms to Zimbabwe through legal and civil action taken in solidarity with victims of state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe.
In Namibia, the Legal Assistance Centre, the Namibia Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Natau) and the independent trade union federation, the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (Tucna), have added their voices to those opposing the unloading of the Zimbabwe-bound arms at a Namibian port.
Namibia and Angola, both allies of Zimbabwe, have so far denied having been asked to allow the boat to dock, and China's foreign ministry conceded that the vessel might sail home if it had nowhere to unload.
Discussions are now underway between London, Washington and southern African states on the possibility of turning this one-off embargo into a moratorium on arms deliveries to Robert Mugabe's government until the electoral crisis in Zimbabwe is resolved, the British Guardian newspaper reported yesterday.
"We made strong representations in the region and also to the Chinese, saying it was completely inappropriate for arms to be delivered when there isn't a legitimate government in Zimbabwe," a senior British official was quoted in the Guardian.
The US, according to international reports focused its own pressure on Namibia and Angola as the ship sailed north from South Africa.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown supported Makgoba's call for a ban, saying Britain would propose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe as it sought to stiffen international resolve over the country's failure to publish presidential election results.
Brown outlined the plan as he met ANC president Jacob Zuma for talks in London yesterday.
Additional reporting by Nampa-AP, AFP, Reuters
Read an LAC press release on the "ship of shame"
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