By Louise Flanagan and Sapa-AFP
The United States has asked China to order the ship carrying weapons for Zimbabwe to return home.
On Tuesday as the ship, identified as the An Yue Jiang, was spotted off Cape Town, US State Department spokesperson Tom Casey said Beijing had been told "to refrain from making additional shipments and, if possible, to bring this one back".
Washington has also asked Angola and Zimbabwe's other neighbours, including South Africa, Mozambique and Namibia, not to allow the ship to dock or to offload the weapons.
"We don't think that under the present circumstances, given the current political crisis in Zimbabwe, that now is the time for anyone to be increasing the number of weapons and armaments available in that country," Casey said.
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The An Yue Jiang had apparently abandoned its attempt to dock in Namibia or Angola, and turned around to head back around the South African coast.
"The vessel is 57 nautical miles south of the Cape of Good Hope," said Lloyd's MIU assistant manager in the casualty department, Stephen Olley, when it was spotted on Tuesday afternoon.
"It looks as if she's heading eastbound, possibly towards Dar es Salaam."
Hours later, he said the ship was "steering a steady course towards the Cape of Good Hope" and was 40 nautical miles off the Cape.
Late on Tuesday, an official at port control in Cape Town said the An Yue Jiang had not contacted the port to request docking facilities.
The ministry of defence would not say where the ship was.
On Tuesday, Sapa-dpa reported that a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the ship's owners, the China Ocean Shipping Company, had decided to recall the vessel because Zimbabwe could not take delivery of the cargo.
Spokesperson Jiang Yu said the delivery was "completely normal" and the contracts for the shipment were signed last year.
The ship has been trying to find a harbour to offload its cargo of 77 tons of weapons for the Zimbabwe government since it left Durban on Friday to avoid being served with a Durban High Court order blocking transport of the load through SA.
The order, brought by Bishop Rubin Phillip, effectively blocks the ship from South African harbours.
A second court order granted in Durban gives Germany's KfW development bank the right to seize the cargo in respect of an unpaid Zimbabwean government debt.
Documents in The Star's possession show Zimbabwe ordered the weapons shipment from China at least two months before the disputed election. The weapons were loaded onto the An Yue Jiang in the Chinese port of Tianjin. The vessel sailed on March 15 - two weeks before the election.
Three-quarters of the cases on board contain 1-million rounds of 7,62x54mm used in machineguns and 2-million rounds of 7,62x39mm ammunition, used in AK-47s.
The rest of the cases contain 1 500 RPG7 rockets, 3 224 mortar bombs of different sizes and 31 mortar tubes.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on April 23, 2008
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